


Weird and Interesting

by kethni



Series: Redux [1]
Category: Veep
Genre: F/M, Season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-20
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-01-25 22:06:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 85,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1664153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kethni/pseuds/kethni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sue isn't about to nuke her private and personal life by having a relationship with a co-worker but that doesn't mean he isn't interesting. And weird.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for all of season 3

 

It was interesting. He was interesting, once her initial concern had been assuaged. Sue didn't blame herself for her concern. He was older, but not old, and he was more senior. _Not_ more important. She was very clear of her own value. The world was full of older, powerful men who thought the women they worked with were a free bar. In D.C. it was such a cliché that it was a joke. Although she certainly wouldn't ever expect that from Kent or expect it to be aimed at her. She _had_ been surprised by his interest. That was all, surprise and concern. Both completely normal.

The compliments were a little strange. A little stilted. When was the last time he flirted? But then, wasn't most of his speech a little off? Mike called him a robot and Selina was even less complimentary. So, in that context, the compliments were fine: nice hair, nice outfit, more or less. Almost normal. Almost boring. Nice _work_ … well that had still been phrased really weirdly but that was less stilted. More genuine. Much more interesting. Compliments about her look were rote, meaningless. Genuine appreciation of her skill, now that got her attention.

She was trying not to be concerned. Obviously a relationship with a co-worker was out of the question, even if she were single. Which she wasn't. She was happy with her relationship, mostly happy with her job, and in no mind to nuke them both.

But it was flattering. Who didn't enjoy being flattered? Kent was successful, intelligent, well-dressed, and professional. He hated Dan, which spoke to good judgement of character. Overall, nothing to be ashamed of and far and away better than the crazies that wrote to Selina.

He laughs at her jokes. That was just odd. Nobody ever laughs at her jokes. Nobody ever gets her jokes. Her boyfriend, like most men she’s dated, thinks a woman with a good sense of humour is one who laughs at his jokes. 

When they came back from Silicon Valley she found a little sculpture on her desk: an African American Lego woman, her hair up in a bun, and a little desk, with a little computer. That had to be him. At least it wasn’t a Lego sculpture of a rose or something, that would have been concerning. It was weird. Thoughtful, but weird. And that was fine.

She never caught him looking at her. What was up with that? Men were usually terrible at not making it obvious when they were checking you out. Dan was appalling. Mike was worse. Gary only had eyes for Selina, which must have thrilled that girlfriend of his. But Kent? Nothing. Never saw him checking her out. Never saw him checking out anyone else. She’d seen Selina checking _him_ out, more than once. That probably shouldn't have been surprising given Selina’s taste for hate sex with Andrew. Plus she had a disturbing tendency to wonder about his ‘cum face’ and talk about his ‘shiny brass erection’. Sue wasn’t quite sure why Dan and Mike seemed compelled to repeat those around the office, but it certainly illuminated Selina staring at his ass. To be fair though it was a _nice_ ass.

Sue hated those offices where people celebrated things. Not going for a drink after work, that was fine. Not her idea of fun, but acceptable. No, she hated those offices with banners or balloons, and she absolutely could not stand people being dragged into a semi-circle to half-heartedly sing happy birthday to some bored-looking co-worker or boss. However, it gave her pause when she overheard him mention his birthday on the phone to his mother. (And wasn’t that something weird and interesting? How many men of _any_ age would schedule an hour long phone conversation with their mother every week? Let alone be so completely matter of fact about it.) She wondered if a birthday card would be inappropriate. They were co-workers. They had a professional working relationship built primarily on a mutual respect for each other’s competence. He hadn't allowed his crush, there she said it, to interfere with their working relationship. She shouldn't either.

So she bought him a card. Nothing fancy and absolutely nothing with ‘Happy Birthday!’ screaming off the cover. Just a plain card with a picture of a sail boat on the front. She kept the message blandly professional and left the envelope on his desk. He didn't say anything. But the next time she went into his office she saw he’d put it in a little frame up next to his other pictures. That was weird, but good.

She came in early one morning, the internet at home was out and she had a ton of online banking to do, and saw his office light on. He was asleep at his desk, surrounded by paperwork. Sue made him a coffee, put it carefully on his desk, and shut the door extra hard. She heard him splutter awake, and allowed herself a small smile.

‘Good morning, Sue.’

She looked up from her computer. He’d changed his clothes: suit, shirt, and even the tie. She couldn't tell if he’d trimmed his beard but she’d bet that he’d brushed his teeth. How often did he sleep in the office?

‘Good morning, Mr. Davison,’ she said, and waited. He didn't seem embarrassed. Did he ever?

‘Thank you for the coffee.’ He leant against the door frame. She noticed how long his legs were.

‘No problem, Sir.’

She waited. He waited. Nobody said anything. Then he straightened up.

‘Well, I’ll be in my office if anyone needs me.’

‘Right.’

Sue watched him walk away. Definitely a nice ass.

 

‘So, has he made his move yet?’ Amy asked. She sat down on the edge of Sue’s desk, until she registered Sue’s expression and stood up.

‘Has who what?’ Sue asked, concentrating on her computer. She hated these passing moments when Amy or Dan were bored and poking around for something, anything to do

Amy produced a bag of pretzels from her pocket and fought to open it. ‘Kent, has he asked you to go for a malted milk or whatever the fuck people did in the nineteen-fucking-sixties.’

‘In nineteen-sixty he was four years old,’ Sue said blandly, not looking up from her monitor.

‘Fuck, seriously?’ Amy stared into the middle distance. ‘I literally cannot deal with the idea of Kent as a four year old.’

Sue was having difficulty with the concept as well. ‘It does seem counter-intuitive.’

‘I bet he was one of those creepily polite kids that only exist in movies. The ones that wear suits with little bow-ties,’ Amy continued. She finally opened the bag of pretzels. ‘Like _The Omen_.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘Isn't Dan the anti-Christ?’

‘Oh God,’ Amy said covering her mouth. ‘Do _not_ make me think about Dan as a child. A girl can only take so much.’

‘Are you going to eat your pretzels?’

Amy gave her a look and shoved a handful of them into her mouth. ‘Selina is seriously pissed that Kent is walking around singing your praises. Rah, rah, Sue is awesome. Fuck di-doo.’

‘Rah, rah, Sue is awesome?’

‘He thinks the sun shines out of your ass.’

‘About time someone realised,’ Sue said.

 

‘Where’s Kent?’ Selina demanded as she marched into the main office.

‘Mr. Davison has been called in to see POTUS.’

It wasn’t often Sue found herself on the receiving end of one of Selina’s death glares but she’d seen this one coming.

‘Excuse me, _what_ did you say? Where is he?’ she demanded, planting her hands on Sue’s desk.

‘POTUS called for Mr. Davison,’ Sue said. ‘I put him through. Then Mr. Davison went to see him.’ She checked her watch. ‘About ten minutes ago.’

The rage was epic and, in its own way, strangely poetic. It often seemed to Sue that if Selina put the amount of creativity and imagination into her policies that she put into her insults then she’d spend a lot less time _having_ to insult her staff.

Sue half listened. Selina had two types of insults: slurs against intelligence, mostly aimed at Mike or Gary, and implied sexual threats, generally aimed at Dan or Kent.

‘I cannot believe how hard that asshole is fucking me over! He has me bent over a fucking desk and he’s fucking me in the _ass_ while he sucks POTUS’s dick!’

Sue almost smiled at the mix of confusion and disgust on Gary’s face.

‘So is POTUS stood on the desk?’ she heard Dan murmur to Amy. ‘I don’t get how this works.’

Sue wondered if Selina was aware how much time she seemed to devote to fantasies about a man she hated, and if Kent had any idea he was inspiring it.

After Selina stomped off into her office, Dan shook his head. ‘I wish they’d just fuck.’

‘That is completely disgusting.’

‘Oh real mature, Mike,’ Dan retorted.

‘They’d kill each other,’ Amy said. She waved her pen in vague but worryingly suggestive shapes. ‘He’d probably eat her afterwards, like a snake.’

‘You are thinking of spiders,’ Sue said. ‘And the females eat the males.’

She thought carefully about the text before she sent it. About whether she should send anything. About what, precisely, she should send. It wouldn't do to be caught sending anything as gauche as a warning. After all, he was a grown man and could doubtless look after himself. So she sent him a text message with two pictures: one of two men shaking hands, and one of Munch’s ‘The Scream’.

A few minutes later she received a text back: a stock ‘thumbs up’ image. Sue smiled, and returned to her work. And later, while Selina was yelling about ‘betrayal’ and ‘treachery’ inside her closed office, Sue took a brief break. She put on her jacket and went a few blocks down the street to the expensive but tasteful boutique bakery where she bought a dozen rich, chocolate chip cookies.

When she returned, barely three minutes before Selina was due to leave for a happy-clappy meet and greet, Selina’s voice had dropped to a growl but it was still clearly audible through the door.

‘Tell me she’s not in here on her own,’ Sue said.

‘Kent’s still in there,’ Mike said, while Dan made a ‘hanged man’ gesture.

Sue kept walking, through to Kent’s office where she placed the freshly baked cookies along with a cup of coffee.

‘Oh fuck me backwards with a chainsaw!’ Selina snapped when Sue came in to remind her about the meet and greet.

Sue glanced at Kent. He looked… mildly annoyed. Nothing else. As Selina marched away, Sue and Kent followed her and returned to their desks.

Five minutes later, when she received his text inviting her to coffee and cookies, she wondered if she had done something unwise. But she went.

‘Oh!’ he said, clearly surprised to see her, and for a moment she was almost concerned. But he rallied, scrambling up to his feet to pull out a chair for her. That was also concerning, but in an entirely different way.

They didn't do small talk, so she asked him about his meeting with POTUS.

‘I hope you’re not going to be leaving us, Mr. Davison.’

‘No… I… Uh… No. I… I have a… He has a birthday…’

She watched his hands shaking and listened as he tried to control his stammering and his rambling. That was when she realised how very nervous she was making him. And that was interesting.

 

There was an odd inevitability to arriving home early and hearing someone else fucking her boyfriend. That was what truly stung; the utter banality of it.

‘I can explain!’ he promised, hopping down the corridor after her as he pulled up his trousers.

‘I can forgive the cheating,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘But not the cliché.’

 

‘What you need is to fuck someone else,’ Dan said. ‘Soon as you can. Fuck that guy out of your hair.’

Amy rolled her eyes. ‘Jesus, Dan, that’s your answer for everything. What we need is a girl’s night out. A lot of sugary or fatty food and then we’ll go to a bar and get trashed.’

‘Who’s going to a bar?’ Ben asked, looking up from his phone.

‘Not me,’ Sue said.

‘Getting trashed with your girlfriends after your boyfriend screws someone else is traditional,’ Amy argued.

‘So I’m not invited?’ Ben asked. 

‘Go with my blessing,’ Sue said, holding up her hands.

‘Do I need to wear a pin or something now I'm an honorary woman?’

‘What in the everloving fuck are you talking about?’ Selina asked, walking into the room with Gary, Mike, and Kent behind her.

‘We've decided I'm an honorary woman, so now I can go drinking on the girl’s night out.’

Selina looked at him critically. ‘You don’t have the legs, Ben.’

‘Are you sexually harassing me, Ma’am?’ he asked hopefully.

‘In your dreams,’ she replied as she headed into her office.

‘Are we celebrating something?’ Mike asked.

‘Another one of Sue’s boyfriend’s bit the dust,’ Dan said. ‘She claims he was fucking around but I think she just got bored and ate him.’

‘I'm sure nobody wants to hear your warped fantasies, Mr. Egan,’ Kent said sharply.

 

She wasn’t sure if she was disappointed that Kent hadn't made some sort of approach, but she was a little surprised. Not that she expected him to serenade her at the office, but she imagined that he’d either step it up or back off. Instead nothing changed. He was polite, respectful, gave strangely stilted compliments, and was nervous as hell if they were alone and anything other than pure business.

Not that Sue was a woman who expects a man to chase while she passively waits. Not in the least. But they worked together. That made things awkward and potentially risky, particularly when he hadn't been clear on what his endgame is. Did he even _have_ an endgame?

It was late. Selina was sat on Sue’s desk, oblivious to Sue’s annoyance, and jonesing for a cigarette. Sue wondered how she ended up stuck with her while everyone else had escaped.

‘That fucker hates me,’ Selina announced.

‘Yes ma’am,’ Sue said, with no idea who she was even talking about.

‘I have to have his back! That fucker keeps lobbing turd grenades and I have to throw myself on ‘em over and over.’ Her finger stabbed down into the desk. ‘I've had it up to here with POTUS shitting all over me.’

‘We have an early start tomorrow,’ Sue offered.

‘I know! And a late fucking finish because the turd flinger general suddenly decided to _inform_ me that he expects me to turn up and watch while he and the other monkeys throw shit at each other.’ Selina rolled her eyes at Sue’s expression. ‘His birthday party. The most miserable asshole in the history of history is having a birthday party to which I have to go and eat cake while listening to some geriatric death metal band playing typical misogynistic BS.’

‘Glam rock.’

‘ _What_?’

Sue sighed inwardly. ‘Rock Toxin are a glam rock band, ma’am, not death metal.’

Selina pinched the bridge of her nose. ‘How the fuck do you know that?’

Sue folded her hands together on the desk. ‘Mr. Davison told me.’

Selina smacked the heel of her hand into her forehead. ‘Did I bang my head? I feel like I have severe concussion. What the ever living fuck does some crappy KISS knock-off have to do with Kent?’

Sue supposed it wasn’t surprising that during Selina’s tirade at Kent she hadn't even asked what his meeting with POTUS was about. Or at least she hadn't listened to the answer.

‘Mr. Davison is related to the lead singer,’ she said. ‘He met with POTUS because POTUS wanted him to arrange for the band to play.’

‘No way.’ Selina started sniggering. ‘No fucking way.’

‘That’s what Mr. Davison said.’

Selina stood up and took a step back. ‘Kent Davison? Mr. Roboto knows someone in a _band_? He knows someone who leaps around in fucking tights and a giant fucking wig while wearing glitter and  _make-up_? Tell me it’s true.’ She put her hands together. ‘Tell me there are photographs of them together.’

Sue shrugged. ‘I don’t know about that. I believe that the lead singer is one of his nephews.’

‘One of his nephews? How many does he have?’

‘Quite a number. The family is Catholic I believe,’ Sue said.

‘Really? I didn't think the pope was in favour of lizard people.’

 

In the morning, Selina was exhausted but oddly triumphant.

‘Everyone just thrilled about POTUS’s birthday party?’

‘Oh God, we don’t have to go do we?’ Mike asked, as everyone else mumbled.

‘If I have to go, and I do, then you have to go.’ Selina turned and gave Kent a sickly sweet smile. ‘I bet you’re excited, aren't ya?’

‘Ma’am,’ he said evenly.

‘After all, you arranged the entertainment! A bunch of geriatric KISS knockoffs who sing about under-age girls.’

Kent didn't even blink. ‘They haven’t sung that in twenty years.’  

‘Is this your nephew’s band?’ Ben asked. ‘How the fuck do they run around in those platform heels without falling over?’

‘Practice,’ Kent said. ‘Jerry can even do jumping jacks in them.’

Selina pinched her nose as she turned to Ben. ‘You knew about this? Was I the only one who didn't know?’

‘I didn't know!’ Gary said, holding up his hand.

‘No Ma’am, you’re just the only person bothered that you didn't know,’ Kent said.

‘You got any other potentially embarrassing relatives?’ she snapped.

Kent folded his arms. ‘A fully paid up member of the tea party, but he’s "charming" and "charismatic", so he gets away with it. A lot of police officers. A lot of soldiers. Some doctors. A sports commentator and a radio host.’

‘How is Jack?’ Ben asked.

‘He’s good. Getting syndicated.’

‘Oh, sweet Jesus,’ Selina moaned. ‘I give up.’ She threw up her hands and stalked into her office.

‘What was that about?’ Mike asked.

‘I think she was trying to embarrass Kent,’ Ben said. ‘As if that would work.’

‘Yes,’ Kent said, ‘because my nephew putting his kids through college by being paid a fortune for prancing around on stage a couple of hours a night is the height of embarrassment.’

Actually, the party was dull, except for the band: who were quite fun in a loud, jump-around-a-lot sort of way. The bass player was just a teenager and it was rather sweet seeing him try to cope with the platform boots. It reminded Sue of her own awkward teenage struggles with heels. The loudness of the music was a convenient excuse to lean close to Kent, who seemed bored, and ask, ‘Who’s the boy?’

Kent turned to her, and for a moment they were millimetres apart. She noticed his pupils flare, and that his skin smelled of citrus.

‘Liam... Uh... he’s uh... he’s Jerry’s son. They, uh, they needed a replacement in a hurry.’

‘Ah.’

‘Yeah.’ Kent fidgeted for a minute. ‘I’d, uh, I’d offer to introduce you afterwards, but, uh, that was a cliché even when I was a boy.’

Sue shrugged, ‘That might be interesting.’


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn’t that she was embarrassed. It wasn’t that she was ashamed. She wasn’t either of those things. It was simply private. Sue respected her privacy. She demanded other people respect her privacy. And she knew damn well that DC ran on gossip as much as coffee.

Jerry, who turned out to be younger, shorter, and more attractive than Sue was expecting, was drinking camomile tea as he waited for everyone else to get ready to leave.

‘This does not seem very rock and roll,’ Sue remarked.

‘It’s good for my voice,’ Jerry said. ‘Not that I don’t wreck it yelling at my kids.’ That was directed at Liam, who was even younger than she’d guessed, and who was too busy texting to take off his platform boots.

‘Geez dad.’

Sue accepted a camomile tea. Kent took a mint.

‘We’ll be out of your hair soon,’ Jerry promised. ‘Liam has school tomorrow morning.’

‘Wouldn’t count on it,’ Kent said, ‘I just saw Selina sneak off with Izzy.’

Sue sipped her tea. ‘Izzy is who?’ 

‘Our lead guitarist,’ Jerry explained. ‘And he’s so high you could use him for a satellite. What’s her excuse?’

After twenty minutes went past, with no sign of Selina or the errant Izzy, and with Stu the drummer fast asleep in the back of the bus, Kent invited Jerry and Liam to stay at his apartment. Sue checked her watch and wondered what state Selina would be in the following morning. 

‘You’ll come for a nightcap, won’t you, Sue?’ Jerry asked. His tone was complete civility, but he had a wicked smile, and a devilish glint in his eye. ‘I’m sure we can send you home in a cab.’ 

Kent’s expression was that of a man trying to seem relaxed, and failing horribly. His eyes were panicked. ‘Absolutely,’ he said, ‘that is definitely a thing we should do.’ 

The polite, work appropriate, thing to do was to smile and graciously decline. Leave them to do whatever middle-aged and late middle-aged men did away from their wives and crushes. 

So she said yes.

Liam was despatched to the spare bedroom, over his loud protests. Sue was impressed, but unsurprised, that Kent had an apartment with two full bedrooms, as well as a full size kitchen, dining room, and whatever the two unexplained doors were. Seniority certainly had its perks.

Jerry made himself at home while Kent went hang up his jacket and Sue’s coat.

‘I haven’t been here before,’ Sue said as she sat down. She smoothed down her skirt and crossed her legs at the knee.

‘I guessed that when he pretty much died on the spot.’ Jerry said with a grin.

‘Then doing it might be considered cruel,’ she remarked.

‘I didn’t make you agree.’ He shrugged. ‘Sometimes people need a little push.’

‘Hmm. I hope you’re careful where you push them.’

Jerry held up his hand. ‘Never over cliffs, promise.’

Sue was about to reply went when Kent returned. He’d loosened his tie and taken out his cufflinks.

‘Ooh, it’s getting debauched in here now,’ Jerry said, winking at Sue. ‘Couple of drinks and he might even take off his shoes.’ 

‘You’re wearing a polo shirt and khakis, Ozzy Osbourne,’ Kent observed.

‘Uh, yeah, fair point.’ Jerry ran his fingers through his hair. ‘Guess I’ll go crash on Liam’s floor. Have fun you crazy kids.’ 

‘What? But you just...’ Kent stopped abruptly in the face of Jerry’s challenging grin. ‘You better lock your door.’

Jerry cackled and threw a wink at Sue. ‘Goodnight Sue.’ 

She stood up as Jerry left the room. ‘I should go.’

Kent put his hands on his hips as he looked at her. It was the most thoughtful and direct look he’d given her in a considerable time. She knew it couldn’t have lasted as long as it felt.

‘At least have uh... at least have a drink with me,’ he said eventually.

‘Okay,’ she said.

 

One of the two previously unidentified doors was the pantry, which also housed a small bar and smaller wine rack. The selection was small but exclusive. 

‘I don’t... I don’t entertain much,’ he admitted while she examined his wine.

‘Who has time with the hours we work.’ Sue turned a bottle over in her hands. ‘May I try this?’

‘Absolutely. Would you like something to nibble? I mean... I mean eat. Food.’

For a moment two pink spots almost warmed his cheeks, and then disappeared. So, that was what he looked like embarrassed. Interesting. It was a shame she couldn’t tell Selina, the other woman would have been green.

‘Do you have any cheese?’ Sue suggested, letting him off the hook. 

‘Absolutely. I have some olives and cold cuts too if... uh, if you’d like.’

They sat out on the balcony on a blanket, with their wine and their food, and a couple of stout pillar candles. An apartment in the city with a balcony. A balcony with a fantastic view. She was in the wrong job.

She looked across at Kent, he was quiet, and still, although his posture was rigid.

‘Is this what you like about sailing?’ she asked.

‘What’s that?’ 

‘The peace and quiet.’

He put down his plate and seemed to think about it. ‘I suppose that’s a large part of it. I enjoy a certain amount of solitary time. It can a relief to relax and not have to think three times before I speak.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘You think three times before you speak?’ 

Kent gave a wryly self-conscious smile, and it was a weirdly intimate thing to see that very genuine and very open emotion from him.

‘I said I thought three times, I didn’t say that it helped.’ He took a sip of his wine. ‘Nonetheless, you’ll know when I haven’t.’

Sue rested her hand on the blanket. It was very near his leg. ‘How?’

‘I babble.’ He seemed to notice her hand, down there by his leg. He licked his lips and stared at the glass in his hands. ‘I’m terrible in social situations. I need someone to tell me to stop talking just to give my brain a chance to stop my mouth but the brakes disappear and I keep talking and...’

‘Kent, stop talking.’

He stopped, and she realised it was the first time she’d used his first name.

He met her eyes. ‘Thank you.’

‘You can always rely on me to tell you to shut up,’ she promised. 

Kent laughed, although she meant it and was pretty sure he knew. He put his glass down and turned slightly towards her. Sue put down her own glass and mirrored his position.

‘I’m wondering what would happen if I put my hand down next to yours,’ he said, very seriously. ‘I’m wondering what would happen if I took your hand in mine.’

‘I’m not an expert but I believe that technically we would be holding hands,’ she said.

Kent shook his head. ‘Not necessarily.’

‘No?’

‘No.’

‘How so?’ she asked.

He leant closer as if to whisper a secret. She did the same.

‘You might pull your hand away,’ Kent said. 

Sue gave it due consideration. ‘That is hypothetically possible.’ 

‘That’s what I thought,’ he said, but he didn’t sit back. 

Sue moved her little finger, just enough to brush against the side of his hand. They both shivered at the touch of their skin. Neither of them looked down. They maintained their shared gaze. 

‘It seems to me, Mr. Davison, that there are times when you think too much.’ 

He nodded. ‘Not an unreasonable theory.’ He moved his hand slightly, sweeping his fingertips across her fingers. 

Sue smiled and caught his hand, entwining their fingers. ‘Now you don’t have to wonder.’

‘Another of life’s great mysteries solved,’ he said sounding a little breathless. 

But that couldn’t be right. He couldn’t be out of breath just from holding her hand. Just as it was completely ridiculous that she could feel her heart pounding. They were both adults for goodness sake. Having a crush was one thing. Behaving like a teenager was something else. 

Kent’s eyes dropped to her mouth before he pulled them back up. She felt his thumb stroking the back of her hand. 

‘I-’

The hammering at the door made them both jump. Sue was pleasantly surprised that he paused to help her to feet before he strode off to the door. She brushed down her skirt and gathered together the glasses and plates before walking back into the apartment. 

Jerry and Kent were both at the front door, arguing with what sounded like a drunk man and woman. Jerry was in boxer briefs and Sue realised that, even fully dressed, Kent was noticeably narrower. His height somehow disguised just how slight his build was.

Sue left them to it, and went to put the dishes in the sink. Not that she was going to wash them. Hell no. But if he thought she was then he didn’t know her very well. The kitchen was sparkling clean and well stocked. The neat row of noodles on the shelf made her smile. Amy’s rendition of his noodle analogy had been as weirdly hilarious as anything she would have expected from him. 

She scowled when she saw the clock on the wall. The time had completely got away from her. She walked out into the living room and found Jerry plodding back to the spare room while Izzy was bedding down on the floor. 

‘Sue?’ Kent was holding his jacket and her coat. ‘Um…’

‘Thank you,’ she said nicely, taking her coat. ‘I had a lovely time.’ 

‘I’ll walk you to a cab,’ he said firmly. 

Sue pulled on her coat. ‘I’m a big girl, Kent.’ 

‘And I’m an old fuddy duddy. Indulge me.’ 

They walked out into the dark of the early morning and Sue looked up at the sky. It was nowhere near as quiet at ground level as it had been on the balcony, but the twinkling city lights had their own beauty. 

‘Here we are,’ he said, clearly thinking she’d been too distracted to realise. He lent past her to open the cab door.

‘Thank you for a lovely evening,’ she said.

‘Shame it ended so abruptly.’ He licked his lips, bent down, and kissed her cheek gently, his beard just brushing her skin. ‘Goodnight Miss. Wilson.’

‘Goodnight, Mr. Davison.’

In the morning, Selina looked as though someone had punched her in both eyes before dragging her through a woodchipper. She hid in her office with a gallon of coffee and the blinds closed. Sue watched Gary flapping around like a maimed bird as he tried to find something, anything to cover up the bags under her eyes. 

‘Morning kids,’ Ben said, shambling over to a free chair. ‘Everyone get home okay?’ He raised his eyebrows as he jerked a thumb at Selina’s door.

‘What do you mean?’ Gary asked, stopping so suddenly that inertia nearly knocked him over.

Dan, sat staring at his phone, snorted. ‘He means everyone pretty much saw her throwing herself at the guitarist.’

‘No...’ Gary whispered.

‘I heard it was the drummer,’ Mike said.

‘Which was it, Sue?’ Dan asked, looking up from his phone. 

Sue sighed and tore her attention away from her computer. ‘I am not the vice president’s keeper.’

‘No, but didn’t you spend most of the night with half the band?’ Dan smirked. ‘Gotta say, I never figured you for a groupie.’

Sue thought about. ‘Technically, if by "spent the night with" you mean shared a cup of tea, and if by "half the band" you mean "the fourteen year old bass player and his father", then yes, I did.’

‘That is kinda half the band,’ Ben said. ‘Not the fun half but...’

‘So which was it, the guitarist or the drummer?’ Amy asked. 

Sue shrugged. ‘I assume the lead guitarist. The drummer fell asleep in the back of the tour bus, and Mr. Davison said he saw the vice president and the lead guitarist going somewhere.’

‘Fell asleep in the back of the bus,’ Dan said. ‘Decrepit old fuckers. It’s like someone slapped makeup on Mike and shoved him out on stage.’ 

‘Screw you, One Direction,’ Mike retorted.

‘Mike can only dream of making that kind of money,’ Amy snorted. ‘I heard Kent say his nephew makes more in a night than in five years at his day job.’ 

‘Where is the great impresario, anyway?’ Ben asked. ‘I’ve never known him arrive after me.’

‘If you mean Mr. Davison, he texted an hour ago saying that was driving Liam to the airport,’ Sue said. At their blank looks she added, ‘the bass player? He would have missed school otherwise.’

‘Played for the president, slept in a bus, got a plane to school,’ Mike said. ‘That is pretty rock and roll.’

Sue considered correcting him, but it didn’t matter where Mike thought Liam had slept. She certainly didn’t want to engage in any conversation that included someone like Dan finding out she’d been to Kent’s apartment.

It wasn’t that she was embarrassed. It wasn’t that she was ashamed. She wasn’t either of those things. It was simply private. Sue respected her privacy. She demanded other people respect her privacy. And she knew damn well that DC ran on gossip as much as coffee. If either of them were to discuss their... friendship then it would become common currency, more on his account than hers. That was not something she would consider acceptable.


	3. Chapter 3

The next few weeks were ridiculously busy. Sue barely had time to keep her diary updated with the cavalcade of disasters and fuckups that certain members of the team seemed to accrue. Her diary was important. Should the day come for her to shed light on certain events it would be important to be absolutely clear on the facts. Something hardly anyone else seemed to manage.

Not that Kent was struggled with facts or events. If anything, he seemed to thrive on the energy that all the chaos generated. They hadn’t been together outside of the office since POTUS’s birthday party, and that was fine. Work was far too busy to indulge in anything else. They exchanged enough during a brief, private conversation that she was sure he understood and felt the same way.  
That was a novelty for her: not having to translate, transfer, or transmogrify concepts in order for someone else to understand. She spoke. He understood. It was interesting.

Ben slumped down onto Gary’s desk and shook his head. 

‘Have you seen that?’ he asked.

Sue followed his gesture, looking over to where Dan was glad handing campaign staff.

‘I hope they wash their hands afterwards,’ she said.

‘Ha, trust me, nothing less than an autoclave will make a fucking dent.’ Ben took a sip of his coffee. 

‘He imagines that’ll somehow get him the campaign manager job.’

‘Great.’ Ben sighed heavily. ‘Who would your choice be, out of Dan or Amy?’

‘Can I choose to abstain?’ Sue asked.

‘For the purposes of this game, no.’

Sue considered. ‘Dan.’

‘What? Why?’

‘He’s ruthless. Politics is a rough business.’

Ben shook his head. ‘I thought Amy was sorta supposed to be your friend?’

Sue nodded. ‘And as her friend I am unsure she has a killer instinct.’

‘That’s true but-’ Ben paused as Selina threw open the doors to her office and swirled on the spot in a knee-length evening gown. 

‘What’s the opinion guys? Where is everyone? Get everyone in here and find out what everyone thinks about this dress for tonight.’ She snapped her fingers. ‘Sue, get everyone, go. I refuse to be upstaged by some fucking random French mademoiselle in a sprayed on bikini and pierced nipples. Not again.’ 

‘It’d sure be a look for you to try,’ Ben said. 

‘Hey, I could pull that off, okay? Selina said as the rest of the staff poured into the room. ‘I could go to this French Embassy thing in three shreds of black satin and a pearl necklace and I would blow all those hoity toity fashionistas out of the water.’ 

There was a choked sound from the doorway where Dan, Kent, and Amy were gathered. 

‘I’m not sure that’s entirely a look we want to go with in a diplomatic setting,’ Amy said, waving her hands vaguely. 

‘I’m not saying I want to do that,’ Selina said. ‘I’m just saying I fucking could pull off that look if I wanted to. But right now the look I want to launch is this one, I call this my sexy and sophisticated. Okay? This works, right?’ 

‘You called us in to look at your dress, ma’am?’ Kent asked. 

Selina rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t give me that. Presentation is important, okay, half of the damn polls you’re always waving under my nose are about my clothes, or my hair, or my makeup. So don’t try to pretend you’re above it all. You’re not fooling anyone.’ 

‘You look amazing,’ Gary promised. ‘They aren’t going to know what hit them.’ 

‘I have a couple of suggestions, ma’am,’ Dan said, striding forward, ‘perhaps we can go through makeup options in your office.’ 

‘Fine, let’s do that,’ she said spinning on her heel. Gary and Dan followed her in, briefly squabbling over who would shut the door. 

‘That fucker is going to steal my job,’ Amy said, gnawing on her thumb. ‘You know what she’s like, she has the concentration span of a fucking concussed goldfish. She’ll pick him because he’s the one jumping up and down squealing "me! Me!” I know it.’

‘Paranoia isn’t going to help,’ Mike offered.

‘It’s only paranoia if some weasily fucker isn’t sneaking around after the campaign manager job,’ Amy snapped. 

‘You think that Dan is sneaking around in a weasily fashion while also jumping up and down screaming “pick me," do you?’ Sue asked. 

Amy snorted into her coffee. ‘Don’t use your logic on me, Doctor Spock.’

‘I believe you mean Mr. Spock,’ Kent said. ‘Doctor Spock was a childcare expert. Mr. Spock was a Vulcan. Although T’Pol would probably been a more appropriate reference.’

‘Uh huh, I’ll try to remember that for next time,’ Amy said.

‘Damn, Kent, how much of a fucking nerd are you?’ Ben demanded. 

Kent shrugged. ‘I find your kneejerk dislike of any form of knowledge, pop culture or otherwise, to be completely indicative of your approach to life.’

‘Well... I find your lack of disturbing,’ Ben retorted. 

‘That’s star Wars, Ben.’

‘Ooh, T’Pol is hot,’ Mike muttered.

Sue smothered a smile as everyone looked at the hapless director of communications.

‘What?’ Ben asked.

Mike shrugged and held up his phone. ‘I just.... I looked her up. She’s pretty attractive. In a severe kind of way.’

‘How did I end up in a Vulcan edition of "hot or not", seriously, someone tell me,’ Amy asked.

Nerd. Sue made a mental note. That was definitely one for the weird list. Perhaps she should have been less surprised, after all he was a math obsessive. Those kinds of interests seemed to dovetail. Sue preferred classic literature. Preferably something twisted, dark, or satirical. She enjoyed having her innate cynicism of human nature justified. Her favourite novel was ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ by Lacos, although she’d given up attempting to discuss it. She was always disappointed by the cooing over Valmont when, to her mind, Merteuil was by far the more interesting character. 

She was surreptitiously googling T’Pol, and silently agreeing with Mike, when Selina left to have her hair done for the embassy party. So, Sue slipped away from her desk and over to Kent’s office. The door was ajar but she knocked anyway. It seemed polite. 

‘Come in.’

‘Do you have a moment?’ she asked, closing the door behind her.

She walked in the room and he stood up. He didn’t even do that for Selina without prodding. Ridiculously old fashioned. Endearing, in a weird sort of way.

‘Of course.’

He held out a chair for her. They sat down. She noticed his jacket was off and his shirt sleeves were rolled up. She noticed him, noticing her legs. Finally. 

‘If you’re going to the soiree at the French Embassy tonight, I wondered if you’d like to go out for a drink before,’ she said. ‘Then we could share a cab there.’

With anyone else she’d have concerned by both the clear surprise and the long pause. As it was she could practically count along as he thought his answer through, three times. 

‘Where would you like to go?’

‘Do you know Mulrooney’s? It’s not a Hill kind of place.’ 

Translation: there won’t be anyone that either of us know. She saw him get it, understand it, and agree with it. 

‘I’ll find it,’ he said. ‘What time?’ 

‘The soiree is at eight, so maybe seven?’ she suggested. ‘I’ll meet you there.’ 

‘Received and understood.’ 

Sue turned to open the door and then stopped. ‘Amy is on the warpath. She’s asking everyone if they intend to support her or Dan.’ 

Kent shrugged. ‘Ironically this isn’t a democracy, our support won’t affect Selina’s decision. She’ll make a typically ill-considered impulsive decision based on some momentary whim. Whoever she chooses now will be made a sacrificial lamb as soon as there’s a major problem, and there will be. Every campaign has at least one.’ 

‘Who would you pick if it was up to you, Amy or Dan?’

He snorted. ‘Are those my only choices?’ 

‘For the purposes of this game.’

He considered. ‘Then Amy. She isn’t ideal but she’d be a significant improvement over Dan. His idea of leading would be screaming and shouting. Leadership takes patience and people skills, neither of which he has.’ He held up his hand. ‘Before you point out the obvious, I’m not claiming to be a leader.’ 

‘You have a staff, employees.’ 

‘Different scenario. I have a dozen data analysts all of who are happy to come in, mine their data, and go home. Selina’s campaign manager will have dozens of emotionally compromised, stressed-out, egocentrics to juggle. All of them growing more exhausted, demoralised, and paranoid by the day.’ Kent waved his hand. ‘I’m not saying that Amy is up to the task, but Dan would make things worse. He’d aim for manipulator and hit bully. You saw him fall apart over the abortion issue. He can’t deal with ambiguity but he thinks he can. Amy at least can keep her head and can maintain a professional relationship with other people.’ 

Sue folded her arms. ‘You’ve put a lot of thought into it.’ 

‘Strategy is part of my remit.’ He licked his lips and glanced down at his desk for a moment. ‘Would you like to make a wager on who Selina will pick first?’

‘You said she’d decide on a whim,’ Sue pointed out. ‘There’s no skill in that.’ 

‘That’s why I suggested it. This way is pure luck.’ 

‘What are the stakes?’

‘I’m in your hands.’ 

Sue thought about it. ‘Loser buys dinner.’ She watched his back stiffen and him force his hands to be still. ‘I pick Dan. Do we have a deal Mr. Davison?’ Sue asked, and held out her hand. 

‘We do, Miss. Wilson,’ he said, and squeezed her hand. 

 

Sue wasn’t invited to many engagements and that was generally fine. She wasn’t Amy, she didn’t have to rely on work to provide her with a surrogate social life. There were reasons however that most of the senior staff were happy to go along to this particular engagement be it the networking opportunities, the excellent repast, or simply the copious amounts of alcohol available. 

Sue was interested particularly in the latter two. Networking with actual politicians was rarely a pleasure. They generally had a ludicrously overinflated sense of their own importance and a raging case of wandering hands. Sue had blunted three hat pins making her position clear to various congressmen and senators, and she didn’t even own any hats. 

What she did have was a gorgeous, calf-length, figure-hugging, aquamarine dress with matching Mary Jane wedges, chunky orange bangles, and an amber necklace. Not too dressy. Not too casual. Striking, she hoped. She wrapped her warm wool coat over the top, the better to ‘pop’ when she took it off in the embassy. 

She found a table outside Mulrooney’s at a quarter to seven and checked her phone. No emergencies, or at least none that anyone was expecting her to solve. Her mother had emailed. The woman had a way with the language. She could pare communication down to the point that it begged for mercy. Sue had been experimenting with different styles. At work, brevity was necessary. Creativity, imagination, ambiguity, and flare were indulgences that she was beginning to toy with in her own time. They didn’t come naturally. 

It was warm enough with her coat on and she rather enjoyed the fresh, brisk air. At three minutes to seven she received a text message from Kent: a picture of a minute glass. She checked her watch and counted down with the second hand. Fifty-four seconds later a shadow fell across her table. 

‘Am I… uh, am I late?’ Kent asked. He was wearing what looked like a very fine grey cashmere coat and matching gloves. 

Did he have any clothes that weren’t grey? 

‘No, you are two minutes earlier than we agreed and six seconds before your estimate,’ Sue said, folding her hands on the table. ‘What would you like to drink?’

That surprised him. She rather enjoyed that. 

‘I would very much enjoy a whiskey.’ 

‘Sit right down and I will get one.’ 

 

When she brought back the drinks he’d seated himself, although he stood up when she approached. She still enjoyed that. She supposed that some people would consider it sexist, and perhaps it was. Sue preferred to consider it as a mark of respect. 

‘Did you hear that the esteemed Mr. Ryan will be at the soiree tonight?’ he asked.

‘He’s like the herpes of politics,’ Sue said, sitting down. 

‘I’d prefer herpes, at last that goes in remission,’ Kent said. ‘Have you been to one of these before?’ he asked as he sat back.

‘Not at an embassy. I’m not expected to do that many engagements. You?’

‘A few with POTUS,’ Kent said. ‘He has issues with foreign accents.”

‘Issues?’

‘He’s going deaf and can’t make out a word they say.’

‘Oh. Good to know.’ Sue crossed her legs and foot brushed against his calf. His eyebrows raised but he stayed silent. ‘I have a question.’

‘About?’

‘Why you offered to work for Selina and not Maddox or Danny Chung.’ Sue sipped her wine.   
‘You and she don’t get on at a personal level and you don’t appear to have much respect for her.’

Kent took off one glove and ran his thumb around the edge of his glass until it hummed.

‘Selina is an idiot,’ he said. ‘Although on balance of evidence when it comes to her policies she is, more often than not, a well-meaning idiot.’

‘The others are ill meaning idiots?’

Kent spread out his hands. ‘My job is facts. Science. My personal feelings, emotions, are at best irrelevant and at worst dangerous. Data can be skewed very easily. Facts can be tainted by the opinion of the researcher far too comprehensively for the possibility to be ignored. Therefore, professionally, I must maintain a neutral and disinterested manner.’

‘Which Selina hates,’ Sue observed.

‘She takes everything personally. Personal and professional should be separate and distinct. You and I understand that.’ Kent licked his lips. ‘Professionally she causes me… issues because she makes decisions based on whims and passion. Professionally I have no preference on policy, I merely present data.’ Kent sipped his whiskey. ‘Personally, I have political views. This party generally represents those. If I didn’t feel passionate about them then I’d go back to the private sector or contracting.’ Kent shrugged. ‘It would be more money.’

‘I’ve seen your apartment. How much better?’ 

‘Significantly,’ he said. ‘To continue, on a personal level Selina is the best fit for my political views. And if you tell her that I’ll deny it.’ 

‘You know she would always believe me over you,’ Sue said.

‘Lord yes. She thinks I’m halfway between Voldemort and Darth Vader.’ He shook his head. ‘Politicians are completely egocentric. I’m sure she thinks I’ve deliberately sabotaged her a number of times and done so purely to spite her.’

Sue raised her eyebrows. ‘Have you?’

‘Certainly not, I would never do anything that would deliberately damage the party.’ He made a rocking gesture with his hand. ‘Revenge that had no wider implications however...’

Sue smiled. ‘I always suspected it was your idea that she be the “face of failure” after the midterms.’

Kent smiled slightly. ‘It wasn’t a hard sell.’ He reached across the table and rested his un-gloved hand on top of hers.

It gave her a weirdly delicious little thrill. ‘You should do that more often,’ Sue said seriously. 

‘Hold your oh... hold your hand?’

‘Take the initiative.’

‘I can’t do that,’ Kent said decisively.

‘Why not?’

He looked at her. ‘Number one: you’d hate it, number two, I’m no good at it, and number three it could easily be construed as harassment.’ 

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘What if I harass you?’ 

‘Is that an offer? I am sure that you would do so with your characteristic efficiency and skill.’ 

She leant across the table, slid her hand into his hair, and pulled him into a kiss. His beard was weirdly soft against her skin, slightly ticklish, and smelt faintly of coconut. He made a quiet ‘mmm’ as she stroked the tip of her tongue across the roof of his mouth. His fingers entwined with hers and his thumb stroked across her knuckles.

‘You may consider that an offer,’ Sue said as she pulled away. 

 

They arrived at the embassy at two minutes to eight and sailed right in. Sue had never enjoyed being “fashionably late” and too many mutilated schedules had set her against anyone who choose to do it deliberately.

They handed over their coats, and Sue was rewarded with several admiring looks. Evening events always allowed women more opportunity to peacock than men. Not that there weren’t distinct differences in say, Jonah’s and Kent’s tuxedos. Especially to the discerning eye. Urgh. Jonah. He couldn’t even seem to dress himself. His trousers were too short and his shoulders were too wide. His hair was everywhere and he was waving his arms around like a windmill in a hurricane.

‘Are the French making fun of us by inviting him?’ she wondered. 

Kent snorted. ‘It’s possible. Things are rather tense diplomatically.’

‘Oh, why?’

‘More so-called “intelligence gathering”, which is ironic since nobody involved seems to have any.’

Sue liberated a glass of wine from a waiter. “You mean spying.’

‘Such a harsh word,’ Kent said. ‘So terribly...’

‘Accurate?’

‘That too.’ Kent exchanged a nod with a tiny, dark woman who let her eyes wander far more than they should. In Sue’s considered opinion. ‘Did you see her?’

‘I certainly did.’

Her tone surprised him, although it really shouldn’t have.

‘She’s a cultural attaché,’ he said. ‘And by “cultural attaché” I mean she’s fixated on extremely specific cultural oddities. Like troop movements, and possible peace treaty talks.’

Sue turned to get a closer look. ‘Oh. You’d think an intelligence gatherer would be better dressed.’

‘I see Mr. Ryan has arrived,’ Kent said. ‘He seems to be caught in a feedback loop. He desperately wants to come over and stun you with his wit, but he also desperately wants to stay as far away from me as possible.’

Sue shook her head. ‘I don’t see why. He’s twice your height.’ 

‘At least,’ Kent snorted. 

‘You already fired him, what else does he think you can do?’ Sue drained her glass. 

‘Disapprove. He has major issues with male authority figures.’

‘He has issues with sentient human beings.’ Sue smoothed down her dress. ‘The staring is getting on my nerves.’ 

Kent looked at her dress, just the dress, and Sue started to frown.

‘Don’t say it,’ she said firmly.

‘Don’t say what?’

She put down her empty glass. ‘Do not say that if I didn’t want to be looked at then I shouldn’t have worn this dress.’ 

Kent folded his arms. ‘I wasn’t going to say that.’

‘But you were thinking it. Kent, this is only go to work if you accept one basic fact of life: I am always right.’

She was joking, mostly. Well half. She saw him assessing just how seriously to take it. Then he shrugged.

‘I can do that.’

Jonah pounced, or more accurately scuttled, when Kent was checking her guesses on the wine prominences for her. He’d been willing to accept her assessment but she was feeling expansive. 

‘Susan... Sue... sexy Sue,’ Jonah announced.

‘Don’t call me that.’

He leant against the wall next to her. ‘I was beginning to worry Mr. Davison was going to be on top of you all night.’ 

‘We can only hope,’ Sue said.

Jonah faltered, clearly picturing it. Sue sighed. She might have felt sorry for his complete lack of ability to function it he was less… Jonah.

‘What’s with that anyway? He can’t really do it for you. He’s at least old enough to be your dad. He’s certainly old to be mine, and he’s definitely older than at least two of my stepfathers.’

Sue picked up a glass of wine and sniffed if it. An acceptable ‘72. ‘Jonah, do you know what the difference between you and Mr. Davison?’

‘You mean besides everything?’ he laughed.

‘Exactly.’

‘What?’

‘Everything, Jonah,’ Sue said. ‘You’re a child. I’m amazed you aren’t constantly skinning your knees and calling for your mommy. I don’t associate with children. I associate with grownups.

‘Well he’s definitely that, and then some,’ Jonah muttered. 

‘And stop trying to look down my dress.’

 

She was feeling just a touch disoriented. It hadn’t helped that Selina had been so monumentally pissed at her dress that she’d spitefully sent off Sue to “mingle with German agriculture people”. They were very friendly, in a Teutonic way, and drank like Earnest Hemmingway fleeing Utah. So now she was trapped in the corner of the room watching Selina, who was definitely getting giddy, fluctuate between staring at Dan’s crotch and turning to gaze at Kent’s ass.

Wait, where had he gone? He’d been there talking to some English diplomat a minute ago. Sue had a small but distinct fondness for English accents that went beyond a mild anglophilia and she was rather hoping she’d have a chance to talk to the English ambassador, or at least someone on his staff.   
‘Sue?’

She turned and wobbled slightly. You would think an embassy could manage to keep their floors in a better state of repair

‘Mr. Davison.’ she said very politely.

‘Would you like to sneak out? You seem a little…tired.’

Leaving was an appealing offer and it wasn’t that late. Not too late. ‘What about Selina?’

He shrugged. ‘She won’t notice. If she does then we say you felt unwell.’

 

It transpired that wedges did not much assist in a speedy or silent getaway. Of course, neither did the “cultural attaché”, who practically bounced off Kent in her evident desire to be somewhere, anywhere, else in good order. 

“Someone’s had too much to drink,’ Sue remarked.

Kent gave the weirdest half smile. ‘Apparently so. I’ll call a cab to meet us at the gates.’

‘Let’s walk,’ she said, pulling on her coat. ‘It’s a beautiful night.’


	4. Chapter 4

Sue woke up in the back of a parked cab. The door nearest the sidewalk was open and she could see morning light beginning to seep through the dark clouds.

She was wearing her dress and her coat. Her shoes were on the seat next to her along with her handbag. The pinky and ring finger of her left hand were neatly strapped together. The feet of her nylons were in tatters.

She felt genuinely horrible. 

‘Hey, you, don’t throw up back there,’ the driver said, glaring at her in the rear view mirror.

‘I won’t,’ she said.

‘I’m the one who has to clean that shit up and lemme tell you an extra twenty does _not_ make up for it.’

Kent climbed back into the cab, shutting the door behind him. He put a carrier bag next to Sue’s handbag as he pulled on his seatbelt. Then he tapped the glass for the driver to leave.

‘What time is it?’ Sue asked. She even sounded horrible.

‘Nine minutes after eight,’ Kent said. He sounded as if he’d been gargling with gravel. ‘We’re on the way to work.’

Sue looked in the bag: it held one of her work outfits, complete with shoes and accessories. Her hand throbbed. Her head was worse. She looked at her hand. She looked at her dress. She looked at Kent in his rumpled tuxedo.

‘Did neither of us go home last night?’

‘No,’ he said.

Sue pointed at the bag. ‘There’s clean underwear in here.’

‘I didn’t look in the drawer, I just grabbed and ran,’ Kent said. ‘Scout’s honour.’

Sue thought longingly of the toothpaste and toothbrush in the bag. ‘I assume I had too much to drink?’ 

‘That would be a sound conclusion.’

Sue regarded him. He sounded more amused than anything.

‘I could understand if one of us hadn’t returned home,’ she said, ‘but not both.’

‘We were at the embassy until eleven and then we ended up in the ER.’ He rubbed his eyes. ‘We got out of the ER about fifteen minutes ago.’

‘I assume that there is a reason I don’t remember leaving the ER.’ 

Kent stretched widely until his joints audibly popped. ‘You were asleep.’

‘I see.’

Fortunately he didn’t push the conversation and left her to check her phone in peace while he texted.

‘Kent?’

‘Hmm?’

‘Why do I have a hundred and seven unread text messages?’

Sue had just sat down at her desk when Amy came skittering into the office wired on caffeine and a desperate lack of sleep.

‘Holy shit, did you ever luck out last night,’ she said, throwing herself down into a chair. ‘We were stuck in that fucking embassy until five in the morning. With _Jonah_. Jonah after midnight is like someone put nine gremlins in a man suit and fed them all acid.’

‘I got the texts,’ Sue said blandly, concentrating on her computer.

Amy shook her head as she made a coffee. ‘Where’d you get to?’

Sue held up her hand. ‘The ER.’

Amy collapsed down onto a chair and gulped down coffee. ‘How’d you do that?’

‘I forgot to ask.’

Amy turned and looked at her. ‘Forgot to ask? Just how much of last night do you remember?’

Sue looked up from her computer. ‘I remember leaving the embassy. I think I wanted to walk to a cab.’

‘That’s it?’

Sue thought about it. ‘Yes.’

‘If it isn’t boozy Suzy,’ Dan asked, leaning back against the doorway.

Sue controlled her annoyance with some difficulty. ‘Do not call me Suzy.’

‘Jesus, Dan, how long have you been standing there?’ Amy demanded.

He shrugged and strolled into the room. ‘I came in around you asking how much of the night Sue remembers. What the fuck happened to your hand, Sue?’

‘I punched someone who asked me annoying questions.’ Sue paused. Punching someone did seem vaguely familiar.

Dan made himself a coffee and sprawled down in a chair. ‘So… why weren’t you answering your phone last night?’

‘Again, Dan, I was in the ER,’ Sue said.

‘It’s just a question.’ Dan grinned, his eyes were bloodshot but his hair was neat as ever and his suit was razor sharp. ‘I spent most of the night in one of the embassy bedrooms.’

‘Yeah, you, Mike, and Gary,’ Amy scoffed. ‘Finally a porno nobody in the world would want to see.’

‘At least Jonah wasn’t involved,’ Sue said. She covered her mouth.

‘What’s wrong?’ Amy asked.

‘I nauseated myself.’ Sue frowned and poked her keyboard. ‘And no matter what I do I cannot access any of the shared folders. I keep getting a “lock down” message. Whatever that means.’

 

Lockdown, it transpired, meant that there had been a hacking attack on the system. It mean Sue couldn’t access Selina’s calendar, emails, or schedule. It was weird and very annoying and not at all interesting.

At a little after nine, Selina bustled in with Gary, Mike, Ben, and a tall, heavy set man that Sue didn’t recognise.

‘Everyone from the French fucking embassy imbroglio in my office,’ Selina announced. ‘Where’s Mr Roboto, Sue?’

‘Ma’am?’

‘Where’s Kent?’

‘I assume that he is in his office.’

Selina pressed her palm to her forehead. ‘Go get him. Now. No texts. Run. Shoo.’

Sue did not run. She had her dignity. Although she did walk briskly. But, she’d run last night, hadn’t she? That was impossible, she couldn’t have run in those shoes. And that was when she remembered, very clearly, Kent stood holding her shoes by the straps.

Sue shook away the memory, knocked on his door, and walked in without waiting for a reply.

He wasn’t there. Sue turned on her heel and walked out, already hitting his number on her phone as she went.

Kent, it turned out, was at his apartment, which he’d been told had been broken into during the night.

He wasn’t very happy. Nor was Sue.

Nor was Selina.

‘He’s on his way,’ Sue promised finding a seat.

‘Oh good, that’s great, because I’ve had it up to here with him never fucking being where he’s supposed to be!’ Selina down on top of her desk and let Gary fuss over her. ‘Okay, okay, we’ll start without him.’ Selina plastered a fake smile on her face. ‘Everyone, this is Mr. Weiss. He’s the liaison between POTUS and the CIA. That’s right. POTUS gets to talk to spies. How fucking terrifying is that?’

Ben held up his hand in greeting. ‘Hi Eric. What the fuck is going on?’

‘Well, uh, last night there was a theft at the French embassy.’

‘Was it Jonah?’ Amy asked. ‘I could totally see him stealing something from an embassy and putting it on his stupid website.’

Weiss shrugged. ‘We believe it was an NSA agent. The French are being very cagey but the chatter indicates a USB drive full of sensitive data was stolen. The embassy staff discovered it very quickly and shut the embassy down.’

‘Wait, we were trapped there for hours because some James Bond grabbed French secrets?’ Mike asked. ‘They said it was a power outage.’

‘Yeah, well they fucking lied, and while we were sleeping they probably fucking searched us,’ Selina said. ‘Even Jonah, and whoever searched him fucking deserved it.’

‘Who the fuck cares about French secrets?’ Dan asked. ‘Fuck everything that moves. Eat everything that doesn’t move. Surrender at every possible opportunity. There you go. Those are your fucking French protocols.’

‘Did POTUS approve this “fuck the French” mission?’ Ben asked.

‘The president doesn’t personally approve all intelligence missions, we’d never get anything done,’ Weiss said. ‘And again, this wasn’t us, it seems to have been the NSA.’

‘A fucking political shit storm is what it is,’ Selina said. ‘And I do not appreciate being dragged in the middle of it. Or my staff.’

‘It gets worse,’ Weiss said.

Selina stared at him balefully. ‘How?’

‘They didn’t find the thumb drive,’ Weiss said. ‘This data is... somewhere, and as far as we can the only people who left between the theft and the shutdown were two members of your staff.’

Selina’s expression darkened as she turned to see. ‘Sue, where exactly, is Mr. Davison?’

‘He was called home,’ Sue said, she considered leaving it there but decided that would look worse. ‘Building security reported that his apartment had been burgled.’

Ben snorted. ‘Okay, reality check, Kent Davison is an ice cold asshole but he’s not an NSA spy. He hauled ass last night because sweet Sue here got tanked, and he wanted to leave before anyone started having fun. No offense, Sue.’

‘None taken.’

Weiss put his hands in his pockets. ‘What happened to your hand, Miss?’

Sue shrugged. ‘I don’t remember. I think I may have punched someone.’

‘Was it Kent?’ Selina asked. ‘Tell me it was him. Tell me you gave him a fucking enormous black eye.’

‘I doubt that. He took me to the ER.’

‘Damn.’

‘An NSA guy called Miller is rumoured to have been picked up a couple of hundred yards from the embassy,’ Weiss said. ‘He was out cold with a black eye and a shattered jaw.’

‘Remind me not to not annoy Sue,’ Dan muttered.

‘You mean stop annoying her?’ Gary asked.

‘You could stop talking,’ Sue said. ‘That would be a start.’

The door to Selina’s office opened and Kent slipped into the room.

‘Oh hoo-fucking-rah, send up the fireworks, Mr. Davison has arrived,’ Selina announced. ‘That’s your man, Mr. Weiss, doesn’t he exactly look like James fucking Bond?’

Sue turned her head a fraction. Kent had changed into a crisp grey suit with a black and grey striped tie. He was stood by the doors, back rigid, and a blandly curious expression on his face.

‘Hey, Kent,’ Weiss said giving an embarrassed wave. ‘Been a while.’

‘Eric,’ he said politely before turning to Selina. ‘Ma’am, the press are going insane over this embassy theft.’

‘I’m not exactly thrilled about it myself.’ She waved at Weiss. ‘Your buddy the liaison here wants to know if any of us saw any spy shenanigans and if anyone beat the shit out of some NSA agent found passed out near the embassy.’

Kent crossed his arms and Sue realised he was trying not to look in her direction. ‘Oh?’

Sue noticed that Weiss had become a little more alert, a little more suspicious. She noticed Selina noticing it.

‘Did you see anyone as you and the young lady here were heading to the cab stand?’ he asked.

‘A mugger,’ Kent said. ‘Attempted.’

‘Someone tried to mug you,’ Weiss said, ‘and your apartment got burgled?’ He twiddled his pen between his fingers. ‘Thank you ma’am, I think I’ve got everything I need from you and your staff. I could just do with a few words with Mr. Davison.’

‘Well you’re not fucking doing it in here,’ Selina announced. ‘Go take up room in Kent’s broom closet while we sort out this mess. Hey, do we have an NSA liaison? Because I wanna speak to that asshole and I mean now.’

 

Between tech support and internal security Sue’s desk was infested for hours. Selina and most of the others stormed off to meet the NSA liaison, leaving a frazzled Mike behind to babble at the press. She was pondering the complexities of writing this in her memoirs when she remembered so little of it, when Mr. Weiss wandered into the room.

‘Hey there. It’s Miss. Wilson, that right?’

‘That is correct.’

Weiss scratched his nose. ‘I’m hoping I can just clarify a few details with you.’

Sue raised her eyebrows.

‘Okay, so, you punched out a mugger?’

Sue looked at her hand and then back at the CIA liaison. ‘Is that what Mr. Davison says happened?’

‘I’m asking you what happened,’ Weiss said, and smiled.

Sue had seen a lot of smiles. She’d received a great many designed to intimidate or wheedle. This one was Boy Scout friendliness slapped over razor sharp inquisitiveness. And she didn’t care for it.

‘I don’t remember what happened.’

‘Little too much pop at the party, huh?’

‘Evidently.’

Weiss shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘What did he tell you had happened?’

‘I hadn’t got around to asking him. Things have been very busy,’ Sue said seriously.

‘So, you went to a party with your work colleagues, you got drunk, and a co-worker offered to take you home. Then you wake up in a cab the following morning in the same clothes and a bandaged hand.’ Weiss tilted his head. ‘And here we are a couple hours later and you haven’t asked him what happened?’

‘Mr. Weiss, you may have time to ask the same question repeatedly but I do not have time to answer it repeatedly.’

Weiss nodded. ‘You’re very trusting, Miss. Wilson. I hope you’re right to be.’

 

At ten-thirty, Sue’s computer was still under siege and her phone was utterly bombarded by journalists. She hoped that Selina was making her point _very clearly_ with the NSA liaison. Sue felt like making a few extremely clear points herself. Preferably with a spike heel to the toe of his or her shoe.

So she was not in the best mood when someone stood in front of her and cleared their throat.

‘If you are not here to help me then kindly take a number and call me never,’ she said without looking up. 

‘I apologise for disturbing you, Sue. I wondered if Selina had returned,’ Kent asked.

Sue crossed her legs as she looked up. A muscle was jumping in his jaw.

‘No, the vice president remains at large. I believe that that she is still dealing with the security services.’ Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘I haven’t seen her so energised in a considerable time.’

‘She does enjoy having someone to rage against.’ Kent shifted on the spot. ‘Forgive me, Sue, but would it be presumptuous of me to suppose that, given the unavailability of your computer, you could take a brief break out of the building?’

Sue folded her hands together on top of the desk. ‘What are you suggesting, Mr. Davison?’

‘A coffee at Literati Cafe.’

Sue raised her eyebrows. ‘Let me pawn my jewellery and I’ll be right with you.’

‘My treat, next time sell a kidney and pay for both.’

 

Sue turned on her answer machine and took her cell with her. Under other circumstances she would certainly not abandon her desk, particularly with the office in such chaos. But with her computer currently performing paperweight duties there was really very little she could do there other than putting the phone down on annoying journalists.

Sue sank into the deep leather armchair and watched Kent fuss with the coffees.

‘How are you feeling now?’ he asked.

‘Much better, thank you.’ She accepted her coffee and took a sip. ‘Fortunately, I do remember a few things from last night. Hopefully the rest will come back to me.

‘Good. Good.’ He ran his fingers through his hair.

That spurred a hazy memory. ‘Did I say something last night about your hair?’

He looked at her over the lip of his delicate china cup. ‘Yes. You said it was amazing.’

‘Did I specify in what manner?’

Kent leant back in his hair and crossed his legs. ‘I believe the thickness, primarily.’

Sue nodded. ‘It is impressive.’

‘Genetics. I can’t really take credit for it.’

‘I spend hours in pain with mine. Expensive pain for temporary results.’

‘Impressive results.’

‘Thank you. I take same credit for it,’ Sue said.

‘Although I will admit some curiosity to see what it would look like otherwise,’ he said.

Sue sipped her coffee. ‘Not going to happen.’

‘Copy that.’

Sue carefully cut her cake with a fork. ‘Kent?’

‘Hmm?’

‘When I got to work I noticed that my shoes had blood on the soles,’ she said, watching him. He nodded in agreement. ‘Was this something we discussed last night?’

‘It was,’ he said, straightening up. ‘You punched the NSA agent and bolted. I, uh, I was holding your shoes. Those wooden soles are quite striking. Literally.’

‘I see. Did I say or do anything else that might prove potentially embarrassing?’ She watched him pause, deciding.

‘You told me that I looked good on my knees and should spend more time there,’ he said.

Sue blinked. They had been... in an alleyway, and he’d been kneeling at her feet. ‘I did.’ She stared into her coffee before taking a sip. ‘Remind me why you were on your knees?’

‘You wanted to take off your shoes but overbalanced when you tried.’

‘I see.’ She tried to remember the conversation, but all she could recall was that they’d been there. ‘And what did you think I meant by that?’

He unbuttoned his jacket and relaxed slightly. ‘What did I think you meant by telling me I look good on my knees?’

Sue rolled her eyes. ‘You’re enjoying this too much.’

Kent took a sip of his coffee. ‘I assumed it was your preference generally for the men in your life.’ 

‘That was your assumption?’

‘That or a reference to oral sex.’

His tone was completely even. Even Sue, a past master of the deadpan, was impressed.

‘And which of those options did you prefer?’

He looked her right in the eye, but she could just hear his cup rattling in the saucer.

‘No preference. Either or both would be equally welcome.’

Sue nodded. ‘Both would work for me.’

‘Good.’ Kent fiddled with his cup. ‘It’s… uh… I’m glad we’re on the same page.’ 

Sue picked up her phone and checked her calendar. ‘Things are ridiculous at the moment.’

‘Mmm, yes. I’m slammed as well. We could briefly put it on a back burner.’

Sue put her phone down. ‘That sounds good.’ 

 


	5. Chapter 5

There was a problem with POTUS. It was driving Selina nuts that Ben and Kent kept leaving to deal with it. They knew what the issue was and she didn’t. She hated that. She hated that she hated that. POTUS was done, a spent force. Selina was ascendant, damn it.

Or something, Sue had tuned her out.

It was early morning in the new campaign headquarters and things were a little… loopy. People were tired. Some people were stressed. Some were rather giddy. Gary was apparently doing an impersonation of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Dan’s mission to win the campaign manager job by niceness seemed to be pushing him into hysteria. And Amy looked ready to kill.

Selina perched on Sue’s desk and lowered her voice. ‘I need you to book a lunch, but it’s not a lunch.’

‘A lunch that’s not a lunch.’

‘With Bill Ericsson,’ Selina hissed. ‘So, I need it to be, you know, on the down low.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘On the down low.’

‘Yeah…’

‘Can do.’

She shook her head as Selina walked away. Politics was fascinating but politicians were reprehensible. They didn’t have the ethics of Attila the Hun.

She texted Kent. He replied with a picture of a giant cockroach dressed as Charlie Brown.

A giant cockroach dressed as Charlie Brown saying ‘Good Grief! What’s happened to me?’

Sue tilted her head, wondering if she was missing something.

No. Still a giant cockroach. Still dressed as Charlie Brown.

‘Uh Sue,’ Selina said, sidling back. ‘I don’t suppose Kent maybe mentioned to you what the deal is with POTUS?’

Sue pursed her lips. Well, she supposed people had to notice sooner or later. Kent wasn’t the most discreet in his admiration. If Selina suspected then it wouldn’t be long before Dan realised, and eventually Mike.

‘No ma’am.’

Selina swore softly and stood up. ‘Well, if it should _happen_ to come up as a topic of conversation…’

 

‘Did you get my text?’ Kent asked. He was in his shirt sleeves, which rarely boded well for his stress levels.

‘I got your text.’

‘You didn’t answer,’ he pointed out.

Sue looked at him. ‘Oh, there was no answering that.’

He looked at her blankly. ‘The Kafkaesque one?’

‘If that was the one where Charlie Brown was turning into a giant cockroach.’

The staff generally treated the news of Selina’s trip to the country with something akin to joy. Except Gary, but he didn’t really count, to Sue’s mind. When Selina bustled off with Gary and Dan the office fell blissfully silent.

For ten minutes, and then Amy began stalking around obsessing about what Dan would’ve been doing to win Selina over.

Ben looked guilty. Sue was made of sterner stuff. After all, it was Selina pitting them against each other while courting someone else. Sue’s conscience was clean and clear.

Although, this was presumably going to invalidate her wager, and that was annoying. She was looking forward to nice meal somewhere with Kent. Winning the bet would have been the icing.

 

 

At lunchtime, Amy plonked herself down at Sue’s table in the canteen and poked her food with her fork.

‘So, Kent told you what the deal is with POTUS?’

‘No.’

Amy took a bite of her burger. She didn’t have a bad poker face in Sue’s estimation. Sue might have almost believed she wasn’t asking in order to curry favour, if she didn’t know better.

‘Have you asked?’ Amy queried.

‘No.’

Amy narrowed her eyes. ‘Why the fuck not?’

‘I don’t care.’ Sue carefully lifted up her sandwich and took a bite.

‘So, will you ask? And tell me. Not Selina and definitely not Dan.’

‘No. He might tell me, then I would feel obliged to tell him if he asked about things which Selina keeps from him.’ She took a sip of her water. ‘If, after this campaign, Selina is not the president would you want him either working for the new president or in the private sector with detailed personal information about her?’ Particularly information of which she has no idea he has possession.’

Amy gaped at her. ‘You don’t talk about work? What the fuck _do_ you talk about?’

‘We don’t have a huge amount of time for face to face conversations.’

‘But you do talk? It’s not all creepy compliments and weird Kent robot sex, right?’

Sue raised her eyebrows. ‘You said that out loud.’

‘Yes I did… Do you think brain bleach is a real thing?’

‘No.’

Amy tapped her fork on her plate. ‘Well, at least you know I’m not attracted to him.’

Sue looked at her. ‘Or he you.’

‘That’s for fucking sure.’ Amy rolled her eyes. ‘Ask him about North Carolina sometime. Jesus.’ She shovelled a forkful of food into her mouth. ‘So, you talk. Conversations. Chit chat.’

‘I’m familiar with the concept, Amy. The last conversation we had was about the proper use of the term “Kafkaesque”.’

‘What the fuck is Kafkaesque?’

‘My life, all too often.’ Sue neatly pushed her plate away. ‘Although we do have a bet on who Selina will pick for her campaign.’

‘Wait, you’re not both pushing for me? I can’t believe he supports _Dan_!’

‘It isn’t about who we support but who Selina will choose.’

Amy shook her head. ‘Well, I hope you win.’

‘No, you don’t.’

 

 

Amy bustled by Sue’s desk, making ham-fisted, and alarmingly enthusiastic invitations to a dinner party over the weekend.

‘It’s a work "getting to know you thing", just Mike, you, Ben, and Kent.’ Amy paused. ‘But the food will be fucking amazing! Or I will not be responsible for my actions!’

‘Wouldn’t miss it,’ Sue said, and wondered if taking a can of mace or a Taser might be necessary.

‘I’m a little scared,’ Mike muttered.

‘Don’t worry,’ Ben said. ‘If she starts chewing the walls we’ll throw her Kent and storm the door.’

Kent arrived at Sue’s apartment at exactly seven-fifteen. She shut the privacy glass and, as she pulled on her seatbelt, told him that both Selina and Amy had alluded to their association.

‘In what context?’ he asked.

‘To find out if I was aware of what the issue with POTUS is.’

Kent snorted. ‘People call me cold.’

‘You’re impassive. There’s a difference.’

‘The overly emotional resent the calm and collected,’ he said.

‘The stupid certainly resent the intelligent. Is their knowing an issue for you?’

Kent thought about it. ‘Not unless you’re concerned it will negatively impact you in some manner.’

‘I’m not.’

‘Excellent.’

Sue noticed that his hand was on the car seat by her leg. She looked at it. She looked at him. He met her eye and, with great care, slipped his hand onto her knee. Sue put her hand on his and slid under her skirt, and up to her thigh. His pupils flared and he crossed his legs.

‘Have you done this before?’ Sue asked.

‘This?’ His thumb rubbed against her thigh.

‘Being involved with a co-worker.’

‘Ah. Yes. Colleagues rather than co-workers, and not recently.’ He frowned. ‘That makes it sound habitual.’

‘Is it?’ Sue asked.

‘I rarely meet women other than co-workers, and would have no idea how to talk them if I did,’ he admitted. ‘Polls say forty-seven per cent of Americans have previously been or are in relationships with co-workers.’

‘Really?’

‘Assuredly so.’

‘Do you still see these colleagues?’ Sue asked.

He hesitated for a moment. ‘One was an extremely transient tryst that was never repeated and never will be. We do come into contact on a purely professional basis. The other was a long-term relationship. However her line of work has altered somewhat and we are unlikely to encounter each other again.’

‘This is my first time.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘I trust you will be gentle.’

 

 

After Amy kicked them out, the four of them ended up in an upscale burger bar. Mike clutched his cooler bag as he slid along the plush seat into the booth with Ben plonking himself down at the end. Kent stood aside to let Sue sit and then sat down opposite Ben.

‘We should bring Selina here,’ Ben said, opening a menu. ‘You think she’s ever eaten at a burger bar?’

‘Not by choice,’ Kent said.

‘Hey, just because she’s rich doesn’t mean she hasn’t done normal stuff,’ Mike protested.

‘Sure,’ said Ben. ‘Like eating Kobe beef grilled by a Japanese chef while the rest of us were in a White Castle shoving fries into our gaping maws.’

‘Are you sulking that you didn’t finish your wine?’ Kent asked.

‘A little bit yeah.’

A waitress approached and took their orders, before spinning away. Sue noticed Ben and Mike both checking out her ass.

‘At least this place serves beer,’ Ben said heavily. ‘I’d prefer wine but I guess we can’t have everything. Hey, Kent, remember POTUS’s state visit to Paris? They kept topping up his glass and he didn’t notice. We had to carry him back to the hotel. I fucking love the French.’

‘My back was less enthused,’ Kent said dryly.

‘I’m sure they love us after that embassy fiasco,’ Sue remarked.

‘Is that true about POTUS? I never heard that!’ Mike said.

‘Course not, you think we’re gonna announce that POTUS accidentally got shitfaced? What’s next, announcing that FLOTUS panicked he might be fucking Charlie Gainsborough because she found Charlie’s panties in one of the official cars?’

The waitress returned with their drinks and meals.

‘Who’s Charlie Gainsborough?’ Sue asked, taking a sip of water. She watched Ben glance awkwardly at Kent.

‘Uh…’

‘She was the NSA liaison,’ Kent said shortly.

‘And she had sex in one of the official cars?’

‘Wait, wait,’ Mike said. ‘So when Selina was running around screaming about the NSA you guys could’ve just called this Charlie woman up?’

‘Oh, she’s not the liaison anymore,’ Ben said. ‘She got moved on account of being… what’s the phrase I’m looking for?’

‘Psychologically speaking one might say she was a Monet,’ Kent said. ‘Fine from a distance but up close… organizationally impaired.’

‘I was going to say fucking insane but I guess that works too.’

Mike hastily swallowed a mouthful of beer. ‘Did you just quote “Clueless”, seriously?’

‘What’s “Clueless”?’ Ben asked.

‘Besides that question?’ Kent replied. ‘And it was closer in nature to a reference than a quote.’

Sue slipped off her shoe and brushed her toes across Kent’s foot. She suppressed a smile when he fumbled his burger and accidently dropped it down onto the plate. ‘Ben, “Clueless” is an adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma”. It was part of the whole cycle of teen movie adaptations of classic novels in the mid to late nineties and early noughties.’ She cut a neat piece of steak. ‘It was significantly better than many of the Shakespeare adaptations.’

Ben waved a French fry. ‘And you people have all watched this movie?’

‘My ex-wife loved that stuff,’ Mike said weakly.

‘I always preferred the one with Sarah Michelle Gellar and uh… Ryan Phillippe,’ Kent said, frowning. ‘I don’t remember the name.’

‘That was “Cruel Intentions”,’ Sue said.

Kent reached under the table and squeezed her knee. ‘Ah, yes.’

Ben drained his beer and waved for another one. ‘Going through a “Buffy” phase were you?’

Mike covered his mouth and looked away as he started snickering.

‘I have sisters, Ben,’ Kent said. ‘I was not raised with the luxury of misogyny and I’m not threatened by strong women or strong female characters. I pity you that you apparently have some knee-jerk prejudice against them.’

‘That was not what I meant. Jesus, quit showing off in front of Sue.’

‘I was not-’

‘Did you have a favourite character?’ Sue asked at the same time.

Kent tripped over the end of his denial as he turned to her. ‘In the movie?’

‘Yes.’ Sue carefully took a bite of her food and chewed it while he thought.

‘Not Ryan Phillippe’s character. That whole trope of being redeemed by love is so overdone. I can’t remember Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character name,’ Kent said, ignoring Ben, ‘But her character was the most interesting and engaging to me.’

‘Katherine Merteuil,’ Sue said.

‘Oh God,’ Ben moaned to Sue, ‘is this one of your favourite movies?’

‘No. Although I am fond of it.’

‘And Kent’s fond of Sarah Michelle Gellar,’ Mike sniggered into his beer.

Kent waved his hand. ‘She’s not the most exceptional actress, I grant you.’

‘I feel like I’ve trodden in the nineties and I can’t get it off my fucking shoe,’ Ben groaned.

‘At least it’s not the seventies,’ Sue said tartly.

‘I liked the seventies! I understood the seventies. I liked the movies and the music in the seventies.’ He pointed a fry at them. ‘I smoked a lot of pot in the seventies. It was a great time.’

‘Me too,’ Mike said. ‘In the eighties, I mean. I was only a kid in the seventies. But life was easier then.’

Sue rolled her eyes. ‘When men were men and women were accessories.’

‘No, no, no. That is not what I meant,’ Mike said quickly. ‘Do I look like a guy who could ever have a woman as an accessory?’

‘No,’ Ben laughed.

‘Hey, uh, do you know what Wendy told me? There’s no opposite sex version of misogyny. Like for women who hate men. That’s interesting right?’ Mike said.

‘She’s wrong,’ said Sue. ‘A journalist should know better.’

‘No she’s not!’

‘Yes. She is. The word is misandry,’ Sue said firmly.

‘That’s a new one on me,’ Ben said. ‘You know what I miss most about the seventies?’

‘The terrible fashions?’ Kent suggested.

Ben ignored him. ‘I miss being able to drink two beers in a bar, a fucking _bar_ , without people assuming you’re a damn alcoholic.’

‘You _are_ an alcoholic,’ Kent said.

Ben took a big bite of his burger and chewed it slowly. ‘That’s not the point.’

‘It feels as though perhaps it should be,’ Sue said.

Outside the restaurant, as everyone prepared to part ways, Ben pulled Kent to one side. Sue couldn’t hear what was said but Ben was insistent and Kent was annoyed.

Interesting.

Then he offered her his arm as they walked off in search of a cab.

‘Was Charlie Gainsborough your one night stand or your long-term partner?’ she asked.

Kent sighed. ‘Yet again your insight is exceptional in its clarity.’ He waved at a cab that pulled over and came to a halt. ‘Long-term.’ He opened the door for her. ‘I’m in the other direction.’

‘Shame.’

It was a brief kiss but his hands were warm against her waist.

‘Have a good night, Sue.’

‘You too, Kent.’

 

 

Selina had another off the record meeting with Ericsson booked. Sue presumed that meant that she was ready to offer him the job. A shame for Amy but frankly neither she nor Dan had exactly shone over the weekend.

Ben parked himself in front of Sue’s desk and lowered his voice. ‘Has Selina spoken to you about a meeting off the books?’

Sue looked at him. ‘If she had, and that is not an admission, I would not admit it.’

Ben rolled his eyes. ‘Smart ass. I know she’s going to be meeting with Ericsson, okay? I’m the one who suggested him to her. I just want to check that it’s all booked and that nobody knows.’

‘Nobody knows.’

‘Because he has a reputation,’ Ben said. ‘When people find out they’re gonna worry. I’d like to reduce the amount of time they spend freaking out, at least until it’s unavoidable.’

‘Right,’ Sue said.

She watched Ben wander away, clutching his enormous mug. She had been largely disinterested in who Selina would choose as the new campaign manager but that had been when she didn’t believe it would be personally significant. No matter how unpleasant Dan was she didn’t believe that anyone would actually panic at his being named.

That made finding out about Bill Ericsson pressing in a way that it hadn’t been before. So she made some calls, and did a few searches, and then, during her break, took some cookies and went to see Kent.

‘Miss. Wilson,’ he said, shutting the door behind her. ‘You have a purposeful step.’

‘What do you know about Bill Ericsson?’ she asked, sitting down.

Kent frowned slightly. ‘He’s ruthless and uh… a little creepy.’ He sat down and rested his hands on the desk. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘Creepy how?’

Kent looked at her for a long moment. ‘Is Selina considering offering him the campaign manager job?’

Sue pursed her lips. ‘If that was the case I could neither confirm nor deny it.’

‘I see,’ he said. ‘Well, he has a definite modus operandi with these things. Initially he will clean house, dismiss as many of the existing staffers as possible, starting with the most senior and those she relies on most heavily.’ He briefly paused to check his phone. ‘The purpose is two-fold, both to destabilise her, cutting her off from her previous support network in order to maximise his own importance, and also to gain a good six months immunity from responsibility for any problems that arise.’

Sue squeezed the bridge of her nose between her finger and thumb. ‘How would that work?’

‘He blames any and all problems of terminated employees.’ Kent shrugged. ‘It seems to be quite an efficacious technique.’

‘I see why Ben thinks people will panic.’

‘With cause.’

Sue looked at him. ‘Do I have cause to worry?’

Kent thought about it. ‘Yes, but not immediately.’ He lent back in his chair. ‘Ericsson will concentrate on the senior staffers first, Amy and Dan, and then Gary because he’s the closest to Selina. Then Mike, because that will buy him a few months of blame immunity.’ He shrugged. ‘He’ll realise how deeply Selina relies on you and he’ll seek to undermine you.’

‘And then fire me.’

‘I would expect that to be the most probable outcome.’ Kent lent forward across the desk and touched the back of her hand. ‘This is the first I’m hearing about Ericsson.’

‘I should hope so.’ Sue gave it some thought. ‘Selina hasn’t offered him the job yet and he hasn’t accepted. It isn’t too late for something unexpected to disrupt the process.’

‘Such as?’

‘Dan and Selina finding out she’s meeting with him. If they were to both find out then at least one would end up at the restaurant. It might achieve nothing but Selina is impulsive, Amy is desperate, and Dan is relatively cunning.’

The corner of Kent’s mouth quirked up. ‘You have quite a Machiavellian streak.’

‘Yes I do.’

‘Do you have a strategy to enact your intrigue?’

Sue crossed her legs. ‘Amy is straightforward. I could simply tell her. Dan will require some bait for the hook.’

 

 

She hoped that Kent was a good liar. Certainly he kept his voice even as he quietly muttered into the telephone that of _course_ he hadn’t told anyone about the meeting at the restaurant but he couldn’t talk because Dan was in the office.

‘Call me ma’am,’ Sue suggested.

‘Of course, ma’am,’ he said dryly.

‘Is Dan paying attention?’ she asked, scanning the office for anyone paying attention to her.

‘Absolutely ma’am, one hundred per cent.’

‘When you come back to the office would you bring something sweet to eat?’

‘Certainly. I will endeavour to fulfil that requirement to my utmost ability in the most expeditious manner possible,’ he said gravely.

Sue allowed herself a sliver of a smile. ‘Thank you, Mr. Davison.’

‘Ma’am.’

‘Anything you want, Sue, seriously,’ Dan pleaded. ‘Tickets to a game, or like… a concert or something? What the fuck are you into?’

‘No sale,’ Sue said, slipping her bar of Ghiradelli Dark & Raspberry into her desk draw.

‘Wait, wine, right? You’re into like all that fucking ancient stuff that probably tastes like vinegar. I’ll buy you a case of something. Nothing insane. Tell me where she is and I’ll see to it you’re swimming in the stuff.’

Sue handed him a pen and a piece of paper.

‘What’s this for?’ Dan demanded.

‘In writing, Dan.’

‘Okay, fine. Here. _Now_ will you tell me?’

‘You only had to ask.’

Amy wasn’t moving. Sue looked at her over the top of her monitors. She was stomping around the office growling at everyone unwary enough to catch her eye. She hadn’t seen Dan in a while so perhaps at last that IED had exploded.

Mike on the other hand was taking Selina’s absence as an opportunity to sneak off a little early. With him went a trickle of the junior staffers whenever they thought they could get past Amy unnoticed. Then Ben came shambling in gazing around with a distracted air. He wandered over to the desk and lowered his voice.

‘Hey Sue.’

‘Ben.’ She glanced at him. ‘I am again not at liberty to discuss any meetings.’

‘What? Oh, is that now?’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Uh, no.’ Ben shuffled a little closer and lowered his voice. ‘Actually I just, you know, I wanted to let you know how valued you are here.’

Sue narrowed her eyes. ‘Sir, are you firing me?’

‘What? No, no, no.’ He drummed his fingers on her desk. ‘I know that politics is no game for the faint hearted and it’s especially hard on young ladies. I just want to make sure that you know that you don’t need anything but your intelligence and your skill.’ He scratched his nose. ‘I wouldn’t want you to get taken advantage of by unscrupulous individuals.’

‘Unscrupulous individuals.’

‘Just because someone’s on your team doesn’t mean they have your back,’ he said.

Sue stared at him but nothing else seemed to be forthcoming. ‘I see.’

She watched him walk away, unsure which was more annoying: that he was pushing for Ericsson or that he apparently thought she was some delicate flower in need of protecting.


	6. Chapter 6

Sue found Kent asleep on his desk. That wasn’t entirely unusual, particularly given the long hours he had been working. She turned off his phone, and then his computer. He muttered something in his sleep and suddenly flung out an arm, almost knocking his calculator from the desk. Sue was almost minded to tuck something soft under his head and let him sleep.

‘Kent, wake up,’ she said firmly.

He mumbled something under his breath, but at least she’d never caught him snoring. That would certainly be a passion killer. She shook his shoulder and he jumped awake, sitting straight up but staring blankly. ‘Kent, are you still asleep?’

‘No.’ He blinked slowly and then rubbed his eyes. There was a warm, faintly animal smell rising from his skin, where his cologne had worn away. ‘What time is it?’

‘A little after eight.’ Sue sat on the edge of the desk and crossed her legs. She waited until he was awake enough to register her legs, awake enough to touch her knee with his fingers. ‘Ben’s texted,’ she said. ‘He has news about the campaign but he wants us all to meet him at a bar.’

Kent snorted as he pulled on his jacket. ‘Ben at a bar. What a surprise.’

‘How long have you known him?’ Sue asked.

‘Too long. Fifteen, no fourteen years and three months,’ Kent said. ‘I went to two of his weddings.’

‘How were they?’

Kent made a rocking gesture with his hand. ‘Good locations. Bad food. I imagine his other weddings were the same.’

Sue shook her head. ‘Ben Caffrey, sex god.’

‘I’m scarcely the person to offer an opinion on the sexual attractiveness of other men,’ Kent said dryly. ‘Perhaps the perception of power aids as an aphrodisiac.’

‘Ben does not exude power,’ she said flatly. ‘He exudes barbecue sauce and Scotch.’

That made him laugh until he wheezed. ‘You’re right, he does.’

Sue allowed herself a small smile. ‘Do you find power an aphrodisiac?’

‘You first,’ he suggested.

She clasped her hands together. ‘No. However I find intelligence and competence to be very desirable.’ She paused for a moment. ‘I am also growing to find well-kept facial hair quite attractive.’

‘I won’t worry about Ben seducing you away then,’ he said lightly.

‘He doesn’t even dress well.’ Sue reached out to straighten Kent’s tie. She saw him stiffen in surprise but then relax. ‘I’ve never had a partner with whom I was ashamed to be seen in public.’

‘You never talk about your exes,’ he said, straightening his sleeves.

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘People who talk a lot about their exes aren’t over them.’

‘Fair point.’

‘The last one cheated on me,’ she said crisply. ‘I consider that a deal breaker.’

He nodded. ‘I’ve never cheated.’

‘Good. Neither have I.’ She tilted her head. ‘When Charlie Gainsborough left her underwear in an official car…’

‘Not me,’ Kent said. ‘I would have noticed that she’d left them there.’

‘How did everyone know whose they were?’ Sue asked, starting to stand up.

Kent offered her his hand to help her stand. ‘They were monogrammed.’

Sue wondered if there was going to be a punchline, but none seemed forthcoming. ‘Having sex somewhere you work seems low rent,’ she said.

‘I would imagine that depends largely on the facility in which you work.’

She crossed her arms. ‘You’ve done it?’

Kent shrugged. ‘Not recently.’

If she squinted she could just make out a hint of embarrassment in his expression.

‘When?’

‘Primarily in my younger days. When excitement and danger were more interesting than an emotional connection and comfort.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘I would like see a photograph of you when you were young and interested in excitement and danger.’

‘Only once you show me a photograph of you with your natural hair,’ he replied.

She rolled her eyes. ‘Perhaps I should ask Ben if he has any of you.’

He flinched. ‘Please don’t do that. I take a terrible photograph.’

‘I find that difficult to believe.’ Sue walked towards the door and he followed. ‘Amy didn’t go to the restaurant,’ she said quietly.

‘Dan did.’ He gently laid his hand on her arm. ‘Never say die.’

Sue nodded. ‘He is more likely to throw a spanner in the works than Amy.’

He squeezed her forearm. ‘There’s still a chance.’

 

 

As soon as they walked into the bar it was clear that the mood was on a knife-edge between tension and full hysteria. Gary, of all people, was wide-eyed and almost manic. Sue had been aware that there was some issue with his shoulder, the Quasimodo impersonation would’ve settled that if not the lingering scent of Icy Hot, but had no idea it was so severe. Or perhaps it was simply spending the weekend at Maddox’s country retreat that had pushed him too far.

They settled at the bar and, as Ben assured Amy that Dan _wasn’t_ the new campaign manager, Sue reached for a drink. She had no deep and abiding loyalty to Selina, and thought that Amy and Mike were self-deluding to do so, but she did not relish losing her position. It was one thing to voluntarily look for new challenges but something entirely different to be forced to do so. D.C. was a small community, any bloodbath that Ericsson committed would be gossiped about too widely for her to pretend she had left voluntarily. Previously Kent would have been her first port of call, but that was simply out of the question now. Sue considered herself a pragmatist and dating her boss would have been more than an error of judgment. It would taint her reputation irretrievably.

The whole situation was beyond annoying. If she was going to leave then it should be on her terms, preferably for more money and better terms generally. Also, and it was naturally a long way behind in terms of importance, finding another job elsewhere would severely restrict the amount of time she would see Kent.

 _Not_ that she would ever plan her career around her love life. That would be completely ridiculous. Nonetheless she was aware that the two of them both worked long and unsociable hours. It was difficult enough arranging things when they were in the same office, let alone if they were in entirely different buildings with completely different employers. Damn Ericsson, and damn Selina for evidently not doing the most basic kind of due diligence on the man.

She had just begun compiling a list of potential job opportunities when Dan’s gloating text message announced he was the new campaign manager. For a moment she almost felt sorry for Amy, and then reminded herself that it had been Amy’s choice not to go to the restaurant. It was about time that she learnt that it was not enough to be the best. You had to ensure that everyone else knew it as well.

After the others ran off, Sue and Kent stayed long enough to finish their drinks.

‘That was entirely too close,’ she said. ‘For a moment I was almost concerned.’

‘Nonetheless a successful scheme, expertly executed,’ he said, saluting her with his empty glass.

‘If Amy had followed my advice then it might have been her.’

Kent shrugged. ‘If that had happened then you would owe me a dinner. As it is, you have achieved a complete triumph.’

Sue pressed her thigh up against his leg. ‘I had forgotten about our bet.’

‘No you hadn’t,’ he said lightly. ‘Where would you like to go?’

‘Somewhere on the Hill.’

He was surprised but not unpleasantly so. ‘Friday night?’

‘Excellent.’

 

 

They stepped out into the crisp, evening air and Kent took her hand in his. Even though they were both wearing gloves, Sue felt a shiver slip up her spine. It was oddly pleasant and she moved a little closer to him as he used his free hand to flag down a cab.

Their cells chimed together but she was the one who looked. ‘It’s Mike. Apparently they did not rape Jonah’s front door but are currently inside having coffee and wishing they weren’t.’

‘Then I am once again grateful for your good judgment in our not accompanying them.’

The cab pulled over and Kent opened the door for her.

‘Mike’s wife already has children and he had a vasectomy. Why do people feel the need to have more children just because they’ve remarried?’ she wondered.

Kent shrugged. ‘There are entire generations of weak-minded men and women who have thoughtlessly accepted the culturally determined process of dating, marrying, and reproducing.’

‘Did you ever want children?’ Sue asked as she climbed into the car.

There was a brief pause as he walked around, gave the driver Sue’s address, and then sat down.

‘I’m not paternal,’ he said.

‘Is that a no?’

Kent paused in the act of pulling on his seatbelt. ‘Some people just aren’t parent material. I’m not.’ He licked his lips. ‘Are children a priority for you?’

‘I spend all day surrounded by babies. I don’t need them at home.’ She pulled off her gloves and touched the back of his hand. ‘Were you worried my biological clock was ticking?’

‘It had occurred to me,’ he said with a nod.

‘I see.’

‘I’m aware that the general opinion is that all I have inside is diodes and circuitry,’ he said, quirking up the corner of his mouth. ‘But I am still aware of the strange human urge to reproduce.’

It made her smile, and that drained some of the tension. She didn’t want them. He didn’t want them. Simple.

She could not swear who moved first but it didn’t really matter. His palm was warm against her cheek and she had his tie was wrapped around her hand, pulling him close as they kissed. It was slow and it was deep. The tip of his tongue caressed the roof of her mouth and made her tremble.

‘It occurs to _me_ that it’s still fairly early and I have several things to celebrate,’ she murmured against his lips. ‘Would you like to come my place and not drink any coffee?’

He sat back and little, and looked at her and then, very slowly, tracked his eyes down her body, all the way to her feet and then back up again. It was worth the wait, she decided.

‘Yes.’

 

 

The ride in the elevator was full of ridiculous tension. All it needed was Muzak to highlight the weirdness of calmly riding twenty-three floors while thinking about the sex you would soon be having.

‘You seem tense,’ he said.

‘I am just wishing the elevator didn’t take so long.’

‘Speed isn’t everything. Some things are better done slowly.’

Sue blinked. From anyone else that would be... what, innuendo? But he had a hint of a twinkle in his eye. Was this Kent’s approach to teasing?

‘Some things,’ she said. ‘But not going up in an elevator:’

‘How about going down?’

His voice didn’t vary one iota but Sue was even more certain he was teasing. She raised an eyebrow.

‘That would depend who I was going down with.’

‘With me?’ he asked.

Sue smiled slightly. ‘I am in pleasant anticipation of our exploring the question together.’

 

 

It wasn’t what she expected.

That wasn’t a complaint.

It was as far from a complaint as possible.

They didn’t make it to the bedroom. She wasn’t sure who had moved first, who had pushed whom against the wall, and certainly not whose hands had first ripped open whose clothing. Her skin burned where his hands passed and her fingers tugged at his hair. She knew that she hadn’t quite shut the front door properly and, as his jacket and her dress hit the floor, she could see a sliver of the hallway.

‘Door’s open.’

He growled. An honest to goodness, guttural, right in the back of the throat growl. Then he threw one of his shoes at the door, without looking, and the corridor disappeared.

He ran his hands over her body while she was still negotiating with her bra. Lightly stroked his fingertips across her shoulders, across her torso, along her abdomen, and exploring her scars.

‘Appendix?’

‘When I was six.’

He kissed her neck, his beard a light tickle against her skin, before dropping tiny, sucking bites along her shoulder blades.

‘Don’t give me a hickey,’ she muttered, tugging at his tie.

‘I’m sure you could carry off hickeys,’ he said breathlessly. Teasing. She could recognise it now.

Then he was on his knees with his fingers hooked in her panties. She yanked his tie free and threw it somewhere.

‘Take off your clothes,’ she said. Her voice sounded rough, like she’d hiked a mountain in her heels. ‘Do it now.’

She could tell he didn’t understand why, but he did it. Stood up and quickly peeled off his clothes. A little soft around the belly but trim and fairly toned everywhere else. A nice smattering of chest hair, some grey and some dark brown. He was hard already. She’d wondered if he would need help there, but clearly not. He kissed her again, kissed down her body, until he was on his knees in front of her.

Then he slid down her panties, kissed her deeply around her neat topiary, and she stopped thinking anything much.

She banged her head on the wall but neither of them really noticed. While she was still panting, and seeing stars, he picked her up and carried her over to the sofa.

Picked her up and carried her. Thank you Pilates for that core of steel. And other steel body parts.

He liked her breasts. She was quite fond of them herself. But he loved her belly. Even when they were kissing, even when they were fucking, he kept his right hand on her stomach, stroking in circles.

That was so weird. And interesting.

 

 

Afterwards he was a little sleepy, which didn’t bother her. She was quite tired herself. She watched him walk to the bathroom with the overly careful precision a drunk desperately pretending to be sober. More weary than he was admitting then. Hardly surprising, it had been pleasingly energetic. Sue kept herself in shape with MMA classes but he’d kept up with her without a problem. That was a good sign. Sexual compatibility tended to be derided as a shallow concern by people who should know better.

Sue sat up. The buttons to her dress were scattered across the floor like a tailors’ trail back to grandma’s house. His tie was in the fish tank. She had a feeling that she’d done that. One of his shoes was by the door and the other by the wall. Everything else was mostly scattered on the floor. His shirt was ripped. That was unfortunate, his shirts looked hand-made. Perhaps it could be repaired. She gathered up all the clothing into two neat piles.

‘Apologies,’ he said, exiting the bathroom. ‘Evidently I fell asleep.’

She shrugged. ‘It’s late. Let’s go to bed.’

He was surprised. She thought that if he made an excuse to go home that she would have to put his clothes through the garbage disposal.

‘Sounds good,’ he said.


	7. Chapter 7

She had a bump on the back of her head the size of a-duck egg. ‘Can you see it?’ She asked as he pinned his shirt shut. He’d been surprisingly sanguine about the tear and was suspiciously competent at covering it up.

‘Turn around? Yes. You should wear it up.’

‘You’re the only man who’s ever injured me during sex,’ she said.

‘Then you’ve been doing it wrong.’ Kent paused and put his hands on his hips. 'That came out badly.’

‘Yes it did.’

He waved a hand. ‘About your head. Apologies.’

Sue pinned up her hair, wincing as it pulled across the tender skin.

‘Has a woman ever injured you?’

‘During sex or in general?’ He pulled on his jacket.

‘During sex.’

He looked down at his torso and then back at her. ‘Yes. I’ve had any number abrasions and contusions. Pulled muscles and that sort of thing.’

Sue folded her arms. ‘All the same woman?’

‘No.’

‘And how many women have ripped your shirts before now?’

Kent took in her stance. ‘One or two.’ The corner of his mouth twitched into a slight smile. ‘Are you’re a little jealous?’

‘I would say slightly possessive rather than jealous.’

‘Is that... better?’

‘It’s a more accurate choice of word.’

Kent waited a moment and tucked his shirt into his pants. ‘In either respect you may rest assured that any previous liaisons, be they relationships or brief encounters, are entirely in the past.

‘Good.’ Sue checked her watch. ‘The majority of the team are in Detroit with Selina.’

‘I’m cognizant of that.’ He thought about it. ‘Therefore it will go unnoticed and unremarked if we arrive a few minutes later than normal.’

‘Precisely.’ Sue took off her shoes. ‘Would you accompany me to the bedroom, Mr. Davison?’

‘With delight, Miss Wilson.’

 

 

 

The second time was different in detail but not in theme or conclusion.

It very, very good.

Afterwards, as they walked to the elevator, he slapped her on the ass and practically danced down the corridor.

It was almost a shame that everyone else was in Detroit. It would be been worth it to see them react to his being in this mood. She had always been careful to delineate between her work and private life, partly because of the need to play such radically different roles. What Selina and the others mocked as Kent’s being ‘robotic’ was largely his professional demeanour. She had no doubt that they made similar comments about her, and she cared as little as he did. They imagined that because _they_ were at the whim of their every emotion that anyone or wasn’t had something wrong with them. That had never been Sue, and it never would be. She was certain of that.

 

 

 

The mood in the Vice President’s office was almost surreally relaxed. Without Selina, Dan, Amy, and even without Ben, the junior staffers were able to actually concentrate on their work. With Selina away there were few people demanding to talk her, and those that did, Sue simply put the phone down on. She was in far too good a mood to deal with annoyances. At mid-morning, Kent sent an intern to a local bakery for a selection of pastries while another one brewed up fresh pots of coffee. If the Detroit trip could be relatively quiet and efficient then the entire office could have a much needed break from the usual intense stress.

Sue and Kent perched on her desk drinking coffee and eating Danishes.

Kent put his hand down on the desk between their bodies. Sue met his eye and smiled slightly. Surely he wouldn’t do anything in front of the junior staffers? A hint of amusement twinkled in his eyes and his pinkie finger rubbed against her leg.

‘Do you do this with your Dream Metric team?’ Sue asked.

Kent hastily swallowed a mouthful of coffee before he could choke on it. ‘What are we talking about?’

Sue silently lifted up her cup of coffee and the piece of pastry in her hand. She managed not to smile but saw that he recognised her amusement.

‘They’re having donuts,’ he said, scowling playfully. ‘They take it in turns to bring food into the office. It’s Robert’s turn to bring in food and Mitch’s turn to go for coffee.’ Kent vaguely waved a hand. ‘They seem to enjoy it. In answer to your question, I do, on occasion, provide refreshments for us all. Not too often. It makes everyone a little uncomfortable.’

‘They don’t celebrate things do they? With banners and cakes and such.’

He frowned at her and took a sip of coffee. ‘Not that I have ever noticed. Generally their idea of a celebration is sitting in silence at a bar.’

Sue delicately brushed a speck of food from her lip. ‘Are all the members of your team men?’

He took a bite of his pastry, not to think about the answer, that was clear, but to consider the phrasing. ‘That’s currently the case.’

‘And in the past?’

‘I have yet to employ a female analyst,’ he admitted. ‘Not by design. The employment pool for gifted mathematicians is highly gender skewed presumably due primarily to a combination of traditional employments and societal pressures. Such female candidates as I have interviewed were exceptionally talented and, consequently, were in great enough demand that they had superior offers from other avenues.’

Sue finished her coffee. ‘More than their male counterparts?’

‘The data are quite clear: certain demographic segments are perceived as having to be superior in intellect and dedication simply to be afforded the same respect as the default,’ Kent said, shrugging.

‘Ah,’ she said. ‘I am familiar.’

‘Have you had many male employers?’ he asked.

Sue casually put her hand down on top of his. ‘All of my previous bosses have been men.’

‘So you haven’t enough variety to express a preference for male or female employers,’ Kent suggested. His foot gently knocked against hers.

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘I would not ascribe aspects of personality or behaviour to an entire sex. I prefer an employer who is logical, organized, respectful, and fair.’

‘How many of those have you had?’

‘To date, none.’ She shrugged. ‘Politics attracts a certain type of person. They tend not to make the best employers or co-workers.’ Sue smiled slightly at his self-mocking smile. ‘Do you disagree?’

‘Not at all.’ Kent bumped his shoulder against hers. ‘The people are without a doubt the worst part of the job.’

‘I have observed a certain increase in tension between you and Ben,’ Sue said. It was a simple statement of fact. She wasn’t asking a question. She didn’t consider herself to be the kind of woman who demanded to know every facet of her lover’s life. Even if it was interesting, and weird.

Kent rolled his eyes, something she wasn’t aware of having seen him do before. ‘Ben believes that I am using you to prop up my ego,’ he said.

‘That’s ridiculous,’ Sue said.

‘Thank you.’

Sue brushed the crumbs from her hands. ‘Your ego needs no assistance from me.’

‘Ouch.’

‘You didn’t tell Selina that a senior strategist was more important than a vice president?’

He waved his hand. ‘I said it depended on the vice president.’ He regarded her for a moment. ‘Didn’t you claim to be the fourth most important person in the world?’

Sue frowned. ‘Third most important, because I work for the second most important.’

‘You know that doesn’t add up mathematically,’ he said. ‘What about Sarah Hammond? She’s the president’s assistant so by that logic she should be the second most important, Selina the third, and you the fourth. Or her the third and you the fourth. Either way.’

Sue looked at him silently.

‘Sue is always right?’ he asked after a moment.

‘Exactly.’

 

 

 

Sue looked up as Kent sat down on the corner of her desk to answer his cell. He rolled his eyes at her when Selina’s voice rang out. Sue wasn’t really listening, not properly. Not until someone shouted, and then someone screamed “no”, and there was a good thirty seconds of confused voices. And then, as Kent was asking again what was going on, a sudden silence as the phone went dead.

The panic was immediate. Phones ringing, staffers scrambling, and the pounding of her heart in Sue’s ears. Someone turned up the television, always tuned to the rolling news, but all they had was reports of an attack on the vice president.

‘They need to calm down,’ Sue said to Kent. Her voice sounded more uncertain than anyone else’s. ‘I can’t think with this…’

Kent clapped his hands for the attention of the room, and when that didn’t quite do it, whistled loudly. That shut everyone up and all heads turned in their direction.

 

‘This is an ongoing situation,’ he said. ‘Hysteria will gain us nothing. Remain calm and do your jobs. Joe, I need you to start scanning social media, try to find any reports on what’s going on. Phil, call the secret service. We need a status report. Claire, try to get Amy on the line.’

Sue noticed that her hands were shaking. His weren’t. He was energised.

‘Sue?’

‘Yes?’

He’d said something to her and she had no idea what it was. That was embarrassing. A ridiculous response. She was an adult. She could deal with this.

On the television there was blurry footage of Catherine punching the statue of Liberty.

‘It looks like one protestor,’ Kent said, pointing at the screen.

‘It only takes one.’

Kent snorted. ‘In England there is a tradition of throwing eggs at politicians to make a real point with your protest.’

Sue sat back in her chair. ‘If they tried that here they’d end up shot.’

‘There’s certainly a cultural context in that nobody expects a gun.’ He was looking at his cell now, long fingers flying on the tiny keys. ‘I rather like that.’

‘I must admit that throwing eggs doesn’t really fit my image of the English,’ Sue said. She knew her voice was close to hysteria. ‘I was hoping to visit but now I wonder if I should take an umbrella to catch all the food being thrown around.’

‘You’d be fine, it’s just eggs and politicians that need to worry.’ He turned around and looked at her. ‘This is the first time that someone has attacked your politician?’

‘Yes. I’m aware that I’m not dealing with it as well as I would like.’

He was about to answer when Phil loped over holding a phone. The younger man mouthed ‘secret service’ and handed it over to Kent.

Sue tried to concentrate on her imploding email as the two of them walked away.

 

 

 

Kent touched her elbow. ‘The secret service say that Selina is fine. No injuries to her or Catherine. Cuts and bruises from being knocked down.’ He was staring at his cell as if it held the secrets to the universe. ‘Amy’s phone is constantly engaged.’

Sue sank down into her seat and let out a breath.

‘Are you alright?’ Kent asked.

‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘What if she’d been shot?’

He shrugged. ‘What if she slipped in the shower and broke her neck? Neither happened.’

She glared at him until he put down his phone and perched on the desk. When he spoke his voice was quiet.

‘I understand if you are disturbed. That is completely appropriate and an entirely natural response.’

‘I don’t want to have this conversation here.’ She stood up and headed into Selina’s office.

She heard him barking orders as he followed her.

As she sank down onto the couch he shut the door. Then he sat by her, turned to face her, and took her hand. He pressed it to his chest.

‘Feel that? Granted my heart goes like a brass band falling down the stairs whenever you’re near me, but this is worse than usual.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘Then why are you acting as if you are untouched by it all?’

‘Because it’s my job.’ He lowered her hand but kept hold of it. ‘Are you familiar with the poetry of Rudyard Kipling?’

Sue fought the urge to laugh, the whole day was turning into a bizarre parody of her life. ‘I am. I would not claim to be an aficionado.’

‘Do you know the poem “If”? “If you can keep your head”, etcetera?’

‘Did you just reduce one of the best known stanzas in pre-war English poetry to “etcetera”, Kent?’ she asked.

He shrugged. ‘It would seem that I did.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘I wish that politicians being attacked, possibly shot at, potentially killed, was not a facet of the world we live in. I wish that the secret service were a paranoid luxury and not a practical necessity. I wish that one day you won’t be as jaded by the prospect as I am. But none of those things are true.’

‘I’m not a child,’ she said firmly.

‘And I’m not the bad guy here. It is vital that we not all loose our heads. Someone has to remain calm and collected. You know that. I can do that and we both know you can.’

She took a deep breath. ‘I thought I was listening to Selina being killed. Forgive me if the death of someone I know is distressing.'

‘Bad memories?’

‘That is an insulting question.’

‘Is that a no?’

Sue frowned at him. ‘It is not.’

‘Who died?’ His hand was still holding hers. She wanted him to hold her, but she would never ask for it.

‘My father. I was six. He was run over by a drunk driver.’

Kent winced, and gingerly put his arm around her shoulders. She felt herself lean against him, rest her face against his shoulder.

‘Do you need to go home?’ Kent asked gently.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she muttered into his shirt. His other hand was stroking her back. If Selina walked in at that moment she would never believe it.

Sue sat up. He offered a pristine hankerchief to dry her eyes. ‘I trust that you will not respect me less because you’ve seen me in an uncharacteristic moment of weakness,’ she said firmly.

He tipped up her chin and looked her in the eye. ‘My respect for you remains boundless, Miss Wilson.’

‘Thank you,’ she said, folding up the handkerchief and handing it back to him. ‘What do we do now?’

His thumb touched her lips before he dropped his hand.

‘We cancel the rest of her day. The schedule is toast. Then we find out her amended plans. She’ll be panicked or elated and neither will serve us well.’

Sue shook her head. ‘She’ll expect me to create a new schedule on the fly. She has no idea how it all works therefore it must be easy.’

‘Fortunately, you’re the best at what you do.'

Sue lent forward and kissed him. ‘Thank you.’

‘At any time.’

 

 

 

She was still cancelling and postponing when Dan called. No explanation for the disrupted earlier call or apology for the lack of a status report. It was utterly typical. The confused disgust in Dan’s voice at Kent’s good mood was almost enough to make up for it. Apparently he didn’t much care for his heroes showing a more human side. She made a mental note to ask Kent about Dan, and his alarming man crush.

They were still talking about Selina’s anticipated bump in the polls when Kent’s phone chimed.

‘… negative influx narratively speaking...’ he was drowned out by their babbled argument as they got the news.

Sue muted the phone. ‘I assume there has been yet another disaster?’

Kent rubbed his forehead. ‘It’s been reported that Selina called the second amendment "a mistake" and said she agreed there are too many guns in the country.’ He gave Phil a thumbs up as the younger man brought around coffees.

Sue stared at him. ‘Why would she say that?’

‘A political death wish, perhaps?’

Sue shook her head. ‘I’ll clear the amended schedule for tomorrow. She’s bound to decide to go shoot some foxes or something.’ She opened her desk draw and pulled out a bag of cookies.

‘I have no doubt. I’ll collate a list of likely venues in a... what, fifty mile radius?’

‘Make it twenty, time tomorrow will be tight,’ Sue suggested. She stood up, walked around the desk, and perched beside Kent as he fussed with the coffees.

Kent held up his finger as they Selina announced she was leaving. ‘Did she just say “Ray-Creation?” he asked.

Sue pulled a face. ‘I believe she…’ her voice trailed off as they heard Ben ask if there was anyone who wasn’t aware that Selina and Ray weren’t fucking.

‘Oh Lord,’ Kent chuckled.

Sue glanced around at the junior staffers and interns who were now making no effort to pretend that they weren’t listening. She unmuted the phone.

‘Uh,’ she said, ‘I’m still on speakerphone.’ She looked at Kent’s amused expression. ‘And so is Mr. Davison.’

‘Hello again!’

‘Shit!’ Dan said, and then the line when dead.

Sue put the phone down and took a sip of her coffee. ‘I dread the day that man needs to testify before a committee.’

‘A sobering thought indeed.’ Kent opened the cookies. ‘Love is in the air.’

Sue gave him a look.

‘Selina and Ray,’ he explained.

‘Oh. Ray is an idiot,’ Sue snorted.

‘I haven’t had the pleasure of a conversation.’ Kent broke a cookie in half before he bit into it.

Sue warmed her hands with the coffee cup. ‘It’s no pleasure, he’s a moron. He realises that people know this. He ascribes it to prejudice.’ She put her hand on the desk. Kent put his hand on top of her and delicately stroked her fingers.

‘He’s self-aware enough to realise people think he’s a half-wit, but not enough to realise that they’re right?’

‘Quarter-wit, at most.’

Kent thought about it. ‘I like that,’ he said, waving his other hand. ‘There’s a piquant irony to it.’

Sue entwined their fingers. ‘Selina’s very highly sexed for a woman her age.’

‘A woman her age?’ he asked mildly.

Sue brushes crumbs from her lips with her thumb. ‘She changes lovers faster than Jonah changes jobs.’

‘Ah.’

‘Do _you_ do that?’ she asked archly.

‘No,’ he said swinging his foot idly. ‘But I didn’t when I was younger either.’

Sue crossed her legs. ‘What were you like when you were younger?’

‘How young?’

‘Hmm, thirty.’

‘Arrogant,’ Kent said dryly. ‘Also clean shaven, fair haired, and a little chubby.’

‘A little chubby?’

He shrugged easily. ‘I was a particularly late bloomer. I had puppy fat into my early thirties. Imagine my surprise when I found I had cheekbones.’

A slight smirk crossed Sue’s face. ‘Now I am determined to see pictures.’

‘I have no current photographs let alone historical ones.’

Sue tapped his foot with hers. ‘None?’

He shrugged. ‘As I previously said, I take a terrible photograph.’

Sue tilted her head thoughtfully. ‘If Ben doesn’t have one then I am sure your mother does.’

A smile, half amused and half disbelieving, quirked his mouth. ‘You wouldn’t ask her.’

‘You are welcome to try me,’ she challenged.

Kent chewed his lip. ‘I’m not entire sure that I dare.’

‘That is probably wise.’ Sue finished her coffee. ‘So she goes for her “Ray-Creation” and we all spend the rest of the day, and most of the evening in all likelihood, trying to patch this disaster into something workable.’

Kent shrugged. ‘Speaking entirely for myself, I’m not completely convinced she has the better outcome.’

Sue shook her head. ‘He’s not even that good looking.’

‘Who would you prefer she have an affair with, Gary?’

‘That would be like sleeping with slightly damp rag.’ She let her shoe dangle from her toes. ‘Dan would be much more likely.’

Kent’s lips tightened, the closest he was likely to get to showing disgust. ‘Dan? He’s far too… selfish.’

She raised her eyebrows. 'That is not the objection I was expecting. Besides, that assumes that she plans who to sleep with. I think that she’s far more impulsive than that.’

‘Agreed.’ Kent stroked the back of her thumb with his. ‘But why Dan over one of the interns or junior staff?’

‘Because she’s always staring at his crotch.’ She shook her head as he started laughing. ‘Dan’s dick and your ass.’

He stopped laughing abruptly. ‘What?’

 

It was dark outside. Sue got up and walked over to the window. Outside the lights of the city were coming on, turning the solemn darkness into a sea of sparkles. She heard someone walk up behind her and felt the warmth of Kent’s breath against her skin.

‘You look as though you stepped off the cover of a magazine,' he said.

‘I feel as if I woke up in a dumpster.’ She turned around. He was in his shirtsleeves, hands on his hips. She straightened his tie. ‘I’m starving.’

‘Josh and Sarah have gone to pick up takeout. I figure we’ll give them all a good meal before they go home. Everyone worked hard.’

‘You’re good at managing people.’ Sue sat down to remove her shoes and rub her feet.

‘Now I’m concerned. The Sue I know would admit I have as much grasp on social niceties as...’

‘Darth Vader?’

‘Exactly.’

It was probably the oddest meal Sue had eaten in years. Junior staffers, interns, some of the dream metrics team, and a handful of random other staff members sat on the floor with Sue and Kent for what amounted to a fast food picnic.

‘She should be able to say that it’s a problem,’ Josh was arguing.

Kent, cross-legged and eating Thai food with his fingers, shook his head. ‘Calling any part of the constitution "a problem" would make any politician appear anti-American. It’s a disaster even before you factor in gun culture.’

‘There’s a reason they’re called "gun nuts’,” Sue said.

‘And that reason is the vilification of political opponents that is so rife in this country! It’s not helpful and it only serves to lower us all to the level of our fringe constituents!’ The intern who spoke suddenly seemed to realise that everyone was listening and blushed hotly. ‘Well, you know.’

Kent raised an eyebrow as he looked at Sue. ‘Rebuttal, Miss Wilson?’

He was enjoying himself. That was fine. Sue could enjoy honing her mind too.

‘Every political systems depends on opposition,’ she said, ‘and opposition always involves vilification.’ she took a sip of the beer that had been thoughtfully provided. ‘Besides, your argument hijacks the existing debate. Whether or not the vice president can express doubts about the second amendment has nothing to do with a two party system.’

The intern, a tiny redhead with wide green eyes shook her head. ‘But if we had less animosity then she’d be able to say what she believed.’

‘That’s naive,’ Sue said flatly.

‘And that’s not a valid argument!’

Kent held up his hand. ‘Let’s not get overexcited. This isn’t the Senate floor.’

‘As if any of us would get near it,’ Josh said.

‘Apart from you, sir,’ the intern said borderline rebelliously.

Kent folded his arms across his chest. ‘What do you mean?’

The intern glanced at Josh for support.

‘Because of the kind of person that you are,’ Josh said.

Sue took a sip of her beer. ‘Wrong answer.’

‘Be less vague, Mr. Carling,’ Kent said. ‘Elucidate and give us all your wisdom.’

Josh glanced around but the other staffers avoided his gaze. ‘I’m just saying that sometimes you need to check your privilege.’

Sue snorted. Kent raised his eyebrows.

‘It means...’

‘I am familiar with the concept, Mr. Carling, I am merely expressing my dislike of the hypocritical assumptions implicit in your urging me to do so.’

Josh licked his lips. Sue could see he was regretting the whole conversation, he was probably wondering if it was worth the attempt to impress… what was the intern's name, Greta?

‘What assumptions, sir?’

Kent shrugged. ‘You tell me, what privilege do I need to check?’

Greta leant forward. ‘Well... you’re cisgender.’

‘You assume.’

'You’re definitely white,’ Josh said, laughing slightly.

‘You don’t know my racial background,’ Kent said. ‘You’re making an assumption based on the colour of my skin.’

‘There’s a word for that,’ Sue said severely.

Their panicked expressions were priceless. Sue caught Kent’s eye and fought to hide a smile.

‘Continue,’ Kent said to them.

‘Well, you’re definitely straight,’ Greta said.

Kent lent back. ‘Another assumption, Miss Holland.’

Greta shook her head incredulously and waved her hand, a gesture taking in both Kent and Sue. ‘Oh, I don’t think so.’

Sue sighed. The junior staffers and the interns knew. Evidently only Dan was still unclear. And probably Mike.

‘That’s a false positive,’ Kent said. ‘It assumes that there are only two sexualities available, that everyone is open about theirs, and that you can judge sexuality at a glance.’

‘I’m shocked that we’re employing these biphobic racists,’ Sue said, shaking her head.

It was mean, she knew, and more than that it was very nearly enough to set Kent laughing.

‘We’re not!’

‘That’s unfair!’

Kent held up his hands. ‘Far be it for you to make assumptions, Miss Wilson. Mr. Carling, Miss Holland, what else do you have?’

Josh pointed at Kent. ‘You’re college educated.’

‘Am I?’

‘Your bio says you’ve got a PhD in applied math,’ Greta said. ‘So, yeah. College educated.’

‘That one I will give you.’ Kent took a sip of his own beer. ‘Now do you see why I dislike the concept of “checking privilege” when applied to a second party?’

Sue almost rolled her eyes at their blank expressions. ‘Because it depends on making assumptions about that second party and assumes, that word again, that a person’s entire personality is dependent on their upbringing.’

‘We have a winner,’ Kent said.

 

 

 

Sue yawned as they turned off the office lights. They were the last to leave which she supposed was fair. ‘What does "cisgender" mean?’

‘I have no idea.’ Kent locked the door and took out his cell. After a few seconds he grunted. ‘A person whose external gender identity is congruent with their personal perception of their gender.’ He put his phone away.

Sue nodded. ‘So you told the entire junior staff that you’re transsexual.'

Kent took her hand as they headed for the elevator. ‘A mixed race, bisexual, transsexual, to be specific.’

‘Or a closeted gay one,’ Sue said.

‘But whichever it is I am certainly college educated.’

She had to avoid his eye or she’d start laughing. ‘I imagine that you would make quite an… interesting looking woman.’

‘Unbelievably so,’ Kent said gravely as he reached past her to call the elevator.

His tone was completely level. She had to look. His face was totally composed but his eyes were dancing.

‘I think I would prefer you to be bi than gay and closeted,’ she said.

Kent raised his eyebrow. ‘It would stand us in better stead in the long term.’

Sue cracked, a tiny smile escaped. Kent chuckled and followed her into the elevator.

‘I was wondering if you’d like to come to my apartment,’ he suggested.

‘Are you proposing to show me your privilege?’

‘I was thinking I could check yours.’


	8. Chapter 8

 

Kent’s shower cubicle was considerably sturdier than the one in Sue’s apartment. If they had done in her shower what they did in his, then she would have been picking up shards of plastic barrier for a week.

Afterwards, as she dried off, she watched him brushing something through his beard.

‘I had no idea facial hair was so high maintenance.’

‘Has to be done.’ He looked at her. ‘Or you’d have a terrible beard rash.’

‘Ah. I had wondered.’ Sue looked at her clothes. She hadn’t thought this through. ‘Kent.’

‘Mmm?’

‘I need to borrow something to sleep in.’

He put away his comb and the small bottle of oil. ‘Well, not necessarily.’

‘Yes,’ she said firmly. ‘Necessarily.’

 

 

His boxers were a touch loose and slightly long, overall quite acceptable. The t-shirts were more of an issue. They were all too tight across the chest. Eventually he gave her a sleeveless t-shirt and winced as she carefully cut a deep ‘v’. It didn’t provide a lot of relief but it was good enough.

His bed was huge, with black satin sheets and pillowslips.

‘I had no idea you were Hugh Heffner,’ Sue said.

‘His sheets are probably red.’ He was wearing a pair of loose, cotton pyjama bottoms and no top.

‘You didn’t offer me any of those,’ Sue said.

‘Why would I do that? Then I wouldn’t be able to look at your legs.’

Sue threw a pillow at him. He seemed to consider it an acceptable price to pay.

 

 

Sue lay in the dark, debating with herself. She wasn’t going to make it a ‘thing’. It wasn’t. It was actually ridiculous. Childish. She didn't know why she was even thinking about it.

Nevertheless, she rolled onto her side and moved closer. In the faint light through the curtains, she saw him open his eyes.

‘Wh...’

Sue put her finger to his lips and he quietened. She turned over and carefully wrapped his arm across her waist. She felt him shift a little closer and then kiss her ear.

‘Why Miss Wilson, what shall we do with you?’

‘Stop talking, Kent.’

 

 

She was dreaming, she knew it was a dream as she almost always did. She was on a beach, building a sandcastle with someone else, she couldn’t see who, and then she heard music. An ice cream truck driving haphazardly across the beach with ‘Comfortably Numb’ rolling out.

Sue woke up. The music was still playing. She heard Kent grunt and then wake up. He rolled over to answer his cell. Sue looked at hers: 4:14am. No messages. No missed calls.

‘No, no it’s fine,’ Kent was saying as he got out of bed. ‘It’s not a problem at all.’

‘Who is it?’ Sue asked.

He glanced at her as he headed to the door.

‘Joanna,’ he mouthed, as he left the room.

Sue stared after him, Joanna?

 

 

It wasn’t that she waited up. That was not her. No. It was only that she had some difficulty getting back to sleep.

At a little past five am she was still awake, and Kent hadn’t returned to bed.

At seven-thirty the alarm on her cell woke her up. For a moment she had no idea where she was, or whose arm was once more around her waist. She turned off her phone alarm and started to slide out of the bed. He mumbled something in his sleep and pulled her closer. Even asleep he was very strong. Sue rolled over and rested her forehead against his.

‘Kent, wake up.’

He mumbled something and buried his head against her shoulder.

Sue sighed quietly. ‘If you don’t wake up I might have to kick you in the shin.’

‘… closed means no contact... not even with umbrellas.’

She kissed him. He kissed her back, but didn’t wake up.

‘... Can find parents at eighteen but that’s the earliest bumblebee...’

She could feel his erection against her thigh so she reached down and took him in hand.

He went very still, and then opened his eyes. ‘What’re you doing?’ he asked sleepily.

‘Waking you up before you make us both late for work,’ she said.

‘Oh.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘You should know better than that.’

‘Hope springs eternal.’

‘No, I mean I can do better than that, we have enough time.’

‘Oh? Oh.’

It was what she had once heard called ‘Sunday morning sex’. Sleepy and pleasantly languid as he rolled onto his back and gently pulled her on top of him. They kissed slowly as she shifted here, and he nudged there, and gradually everything was where it should be.

‘Come back here,’ he said, scowling playfully as she sat up slightly.

‘No,’ she said, and winked.

After a few minutes he gave a quiet, gentle groan and bucked up against her as she closed her eyes and circled her hips.

 

 

She crossed her legs and sipped her coffee as he gathered up his papers for work.

‘What time did you come back to bed? Bearing in mind you don’t know long I was awake.’

Kent smiled wryly. ‘I was wondering how much trouble I was in.’

‘That will depend entirely on your answers.’

‘Oh, a little before six I think. A quarter to, approximately.’

‘I’ve never heard you approximate time before.’ Sue caught him by the belt loop and pulled him closer.

A muscle jumped in his cheek. ‘Forty-three minutes past five.’

‘You were on the phone for nearly ninety minutes,’ she said, putting her coffee cup aside.

Kent rubbed his face. ‘I promise, it isn’t what you think.’

‘I hope you’re wrong.’

‘What?’

‘Who’s Joanna?’ Sue asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kent’s expression blanked. ‘I said it was her calling?’

‘Yes.’

He deflated and sank down onto the chair next to her. ‘Joanna Hughes.’

Sue waited for something to make sense. ‘Joanna Hughes.’

‘Yes.’

‘FLOTUS?’ she asked, carefully, sure she had made an error.

Kent nodded. 

Sue drained her coffee cup. ‘I thought you were going to say it was one of your sisters.’

‘Oh,’ he said sheepishly. ‘No. They do call on occasion but rarely at that time in the morning. I promise there was nothing inappropriate in the call or in my relationship with her.’

Sue checked her watch. ‘We don’t have time to discuss this properly now.’

‘No. Tonight? Over the dinner I owe you.’

Sue stood up and let him help her into her coat. ‘I expect dessert.’

‘I relish the opportunity.’

 

 

Selina's second day in Detroit was full of brief bursts of frenetic energy followed by long periods of waiting.

Kent held up his finger as they heard Selena suggest a nearby gun show.

‘Damn you’re good,’ he said as Sue put the phone on mute.

‘Yes, but I love hearing you say it.’ Sue pulled up their pre-prepared list of nearby shows and events. ‘Will this delay our dinner?’

‘Not if I have anything to do with it,’ he promised.

 

 

Sue regarded the phone with something approaching trepidation, if she would ever admit such a thing. Kent was off organising maps and the paraphernalia necessary for planning an impromptu motorcade trip. She had already completed her list of jobs with one exception: calling his mother to postpone their weekly phone call.

Simple. Brief. Go to it, Sue.

He didn’t talk about his mother that much. Not to a disturbing degree. He wasn’t Norman Bates or Seymour Skinner. But he did talk about her and talk to her. She had met plenty of her exes’ parents, an event that was always awkward. She couldn’t remember a single previous boyfriend whose relationship with his parents had been at best complicated and at worse outright hatred. But Kent actually appeared to like his mother.

Weird.

Too much prevaricating. Sue picked up the landline and punched in the number.

Kent’s mother was Irish. For some reason that was a surprise. She had an entirely lovely, lilting Irish accent that did nothing to hide the clarity of her words. Words which included a subtle but definite acknowledgement of recognising Sue’s name. She was curious, definitely, but careful not to pry.

Interesting.

Sue would be lying if she said she wasn’t curious about what he’d said. But Caitlyn, as she asked Sue to call her, didn’t let anything slip.

And she was funny, in a witty self-deprecating way. So, all in all, Sue finished the call feeling rather happier about the prospect of a potential future meeting.

 

 

It was like dancing. They twirled between landlines, cell phones, computers, and handwritten messages; communicating with glances, gestures, sentence fragments, and touches. Oh, nothing out of place. Nothing unprofessional. Her hand on his shoulder. His palm a brief and light pressure on her hip. Perfectly in sync. Couldn’t be better.

‘They have arrived at the gun show,’ Sue said, taking off her headset and rubbing her ear. ‘I cannot begin to say how pleased I am not to be there.’

‘It is by no means my idea of a sport.’ Kent pushed his fingers through his hair.

‘Have you tried it?’

‘Shooting?’ he clarified. ‘Certainly, there are times when it has been politic to engage in the second redneck sport. Shooting is loud and gunpowder smells.'

Sue let herself smile. ‘I have heard it imparts a feeling of power.’

‘Is it your contention that I would benefit from an artificial feeling of power?’ he said, with that gravelly voice and twinkle in his eye that she’d learnt to recognise.

She put down her headset carefully on desk and lowered her voice. ‘You are already a powerful man, Mr. Davison.’

She smiled as he, with due consideration, made a show of looking her over.

‘You flatter me, Miss. Wilson.’ Kent put his hand on his hip. ‘And you?’

Sue shrugged. ‘I have no interest in hunting and if I am going to kill someone, it will be up close and personal.’

The corner of Kent’s mouth quirked up. ‘You’ve put some thought into it.’

Sue perched on the end of her desk. ‘I believe in having a plan for all eventualities.’

‘Your preparedness is inspiring as always. How would you get away with murder?’

She crossed her legs at the knee. ‘Everyone needs their own perfect murder plot, Sir.’

He crossed his arms. ‘I wouldn’t use a gun either. Too noisy. Too much evidence.’

Sue tapped her foot. ‘You’re a strong man. You have other options.’

There were junior staffers around of course, but none so near that they could hear the conversation. None apparently paying much attention to either of them. She couldn’t help but assume that they’d be surprised if they did hear it.

‘Are you suggesting that I would use my hands?’ he asked, his voice dropping a little.

‘I’ve noticed that you’re quite gifted, manually.’ Sue let her shoe slip off her heel. ‘Very skilful.’

Kent raised an eyebrow. ‘A compliment indeed from a woman as talented as yourself.’

Sue’s cell chirped. She gave him an apologetic look before checking it. ‘Hmm, we have just over thirty minutes until she leaves.’

‘I’ll run down to the canteen and get us some lunch,’ he said, heading to the door. ‘Oh, I got a text from my mother,’ he said, turning around to face her. ‘She likes you.’

 

 

Lunch was a couple of salads from the canteen while the junior staff filled the room with the scent of bad burgers and cheap pizza. They’d never have dared if Selina was in residence but the sense of camaraderie was, to her mind, worth the smell.

Kent was chasing a ball of mozzarella around his salad bowl. ‘Barring any disasters, I was hoping to take my boat out this weekend I wondered if you would care to accompany me. We could take a hamper and some wine.’

‘Is there a bed?’ Sue asked.

Kent laughed a little. ‘Mmm mmm. A large one.’

‘A picnic on your boat sounds very pleasant. Barring disasters.’

‘Good.’

Sue speared a piece of sun dried tomato with her fork. ‘Did you take Charlie out on your boat?’

He frowned slightly and took a sip of water. ‘That was a different boat.’

‘Ah.’ Sue reached over and stole one of his mozzarella balls. ‘You remember that Andrew called?’

Kent nodded. ‘I’ve texted him. I’m not sure why he’s calling me.’

‘Selina won’t talk to him.’ Sue shook her head. ‘If she’s not sleeping with her exes then she’s jamming needles into a voodoo model of them.’ She glanced at him. ‘She’s not alone there.’

He waved his fork at her. ‘I, for one, have never felt the urge to fall into bed with someone whom I have already severed emotional ties with.’

‘I have. Hate sex can be very therapeutic,’ Sue said putting aside her empty bowl.

‘Ah well, that yes,’ Kent said a little uneasily. ‘But never with a former partner.’

 

 

It was time for Kent to pay his bet, and they were going to a restaurant right on the hill. Sue was a little… more aware of her dress and her hair than usual. She certainly wasn’t anxious and she absolutely wasn’t concerned. Not at all.

She put on a mid-thigh length black dress with a muted gold shawl and strappy black shoes. Not too dressy. Not too casual. She met Kent at the restaurant, as Selina had delayed his exit by calling to rant about the ‘Finnish Fart’. A little unfair, since he had no idea she was chairing the Q&A, let alone her ability to cut Selina down with barely a word. Sue got the distinct impression that he was planning to investigate further, perhaps in search of helpful tips.

‘Are all your suits grey?’ she asked as they were shown to their seats.

He thought about it. ‘Grey or black.’

‘Grey isn’t a flattering colour.’

‘It doesn’t clash with anything.’

‘Nor does it complement anything.’

He held out her chair for her and then tucked it under as she sat down.

‘I prefer to blend in,’ he said. ‘I’ve no desire to attract attention.’

Sue looked around the room. They were already attracting more than their fair share of attention from the politicos and associated hangers on.

‘Do you often eat here?’

‘Not recently. I don’t always have the time.’

Sue raised an eyebrow as she looked at her menu. ‘This has no prices on this.’

‘It’s a blind menu.’ He shrugged at her expression. ‘If you need to know the price then you can’t afford it, such is the theory.’

Sue pursed her lips. ‘I’m not comfortable with that.’

Kent touched her hand. ‘It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.’

‘If I had lost, we would not be eating here.’

He shrugged. ‘You didn’t lose. What’s your point?’

Sue looked around the room. She was far from the only woman there with an older man, and far too many of those women were clearly having their way paid for them.

‘I am not looking for a sugar daddy, Kent.’

His genuine surprise was something of a relief. ‘A _sugar daddy_?’

‘I want us both to be clear on my role in this relationship.’

Kent raised his eyebrows. ‘I don’t believe that there has ever been any ambiguity there. If I wanted a… beautiful, compliant bimbo to hang on my arm you would be the last woman I’d approach. Is this because of something Ben said?’

‘Not entirely. Partly it’s because I have eyes,’ she gestured at the assembled young women and older men. ‘I have neither the desire nor the intention of being anyone’s pet.’

He blinked. ‘Let me be completely candid, Sue, we both know that if there’s someone in this relationship rolling on their back in hopes of a belly rub, it certainly isn’t you.’ He held up his hands to forestall her reply. ‘And that is completely acceptable. I am in no way complaining but simply acknowledging a fact. You and I both know that, in romantic relationships, you are an alpha personality. Again, completely acceptable. Completely accepted. To address your “sugar daddy” issue, I would point out that I haven’t bought you any expensive gifts. I haven’t taken you on any expensive trips. I could have done but I haven’t because I don’t consider you arm candy and I didn't believe you would accept.’

Sue nodded. ‘Are you finished?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good.’ She leant forward and kissed him. Her hand found his and stroked his wrist.

‘Uh,’ he said as she sat back. ‘I’m a little unclear on what just happened.’

‘I had concerns,’ she said.

‘That I got.’

‘And you appeased them.’ Sue returned her attention to her menu.

‘I did?’

‘Yes.’ She glanced up.

He was looking confused. ‘Alright then,’ he said after a couple of moments.

 

 

Kent deferred to her on the choice of wine. There were no prices on the wine list either, but she had a much surer grasp of their value than of the food.

‘You were going to tell me about your phone call,’ she said, aware that they were in an essentially public place.

He sighed. ‘She called to talk. She does from time to time.’ He lent closer and lowered his voice. ‘Uh, she has some... She’s not in a good place.’ He licked his lips. ‘Psychologically.’

Sue was rarely lost for a quick reply but, if asked, she would admit that one was unexpected. She’d never met FLOTUS, although she was aware of the rumoured feud between her and Selina. And Kent had certainly never mentioned her before.

‘Is she unwell?’

He shrugged. ‘POTUS talks to Ben and she talks to me. I hope that isn’t going to be a difficulty? I assure you that it’s entirely innocent.’

‘I wish you had told me earlier.’

There was a pause as a waiter appeared with their starters. As the waiter left Kent fiddled with his cutlery.

‘As I’m sure you can appreciate I find myself in an awkward situation. There are security issues. Clearance issues.’

‘I appreciate that,’ Sue took a bite of food, chewed it thoroughly, and swallowed. ‘Do you have many female friends?’

He smiled slightly as he took a sip of his wine. ‘Jealous?’

‘Possessive,’ she said mildly.

‘Not many,’ he said. ‘Do you have many male friends?’

That surprised her. ‘Not many. Are you a little possessive?’

‘No,’ he said, smiling slightly. ‘But I am a little jealous by nature.’

‘Ah. Good.’

 

 

Kent glanced at his cell as it chimed. He put down his cutlery as he scowled at his phone.

‘Problem?’ Sue asked.

‘Ben, helpfully informing me that he’s thrown me to the dogs.’ Kent shook his head and shoved his cell into his pocket. ‘I apologise in advance for the doubtless upcoming interruption. Apparently Malcolm Tucker is looking for me and Ben oh-so-helpfully told him to find me here.’

Sue took a sip of wine. ‘Who is Malcolm Tucker?’

‘A British political mover and shaker.’ Kent tapped his thumb on the table. ‘If you’ve never met him then there’s no way of accurately describing him. He’s something that you… endure rather than experience.’

‘Why did he call Ben and not you?’ Sue topped up their wine glasses.

‘I’ve blocked his number.’ Kent glanced over her shoulder and flinched. ‘And yet, here he is.’

Sue turned as a burst of loud chatter and scraping chairs came from the entrance. She saw a gaunt, grey-haired man in a worn grey suit trading barbs as with other diners as he made his way towards their table. ‘What’s his accent?’ she asked.

‘Scots. If you want to annoy him then call him English.’

‘I like the English.’

'He doesn't.'

Malcolm came to a halt in front of their table. ‘Hey, look who we’ve got here!’

‘Don’t,’ Kent said.

‘Don’t what?’ the cadaverous Scott asked innocently.

‘Don’t make your routine obscene and utterly played out pun on my name.’

‘Ohhh, you mean don’t call you “cu-”‘

Kent cut through his reply. ‘Malcolm, you’re no longer important or interesting enough to make the consequences of deporting you more compelling than the pleasure of doing so.’

‘Are you threatening me?’ Malcolm asked, affecting astonishment.

‘If that thought upsets you then consider it a gift I have long cherished and am finally able to deliver,’ Kent said, making a chopping gesture.

Malcolm said nothing for a long moment. Sue watched the two of them staring at each other like cats. Then Malcolm grinned and looked at her for the first time.

‘He’s a card isn’t he?’

‘Hilarious.’

Malcolm looked at her more closely. ‘I was going to say something about Kent,’ he pronounced the word very carefully, ‘suddenly taking to raiding cradles, but of course that’s not what he sees in you.’

‘Watch yourself,’ Kent said quietly.

‘What? You know I share your well documented admiration for ambitious and strong-minded women.’ Malcolm shrugged at Sue. ‘He’s just much better at courting them. Although I suppose it’s a wee bit more difficult now. He was absolutely fucking gorgeous when he was younger. Might’ve given him a tumble myself if either of us swung that way.’ Malcolm pushed his fingers through his hair. ‘Course he had the social skills of damp bread but I think it’s fair to say that a lot of women will put up with that if the guy is sufficiently handsome and arrogant. You know, the way that a lot of men will put up with a woman being a fucking numpty if she’s good looking and fun.’

Kent shook his head at Sue. ‘Malcolm was always far too caught up in what used to be his career to actually form anything like a human relationship.’

‘Take that back! My career is solid as a fucking rock. If a short prison sentence was a deterrent to a political career in Britain than the whole fucking country would disappear up its own arsehole.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘You were in prison.’

‘Eh, it wasn’t for anything worth talking about,’ Malcolm said cheerfully. ‘Nothing no other bugger hasn’t done. Four months in minimum security white fucking collar prison. Best holiday I’ve ever had. Everything on tap. Zero stress. Fantastic, actually, as before I went inside I was feeling pretty fucking jaded, you know? Ready to chuck it in. But it was like a spa. I came out raring to fucking go. Of course I have to pretend to be fucking contrite, touch my forelock and all that shite, but the day after I got out the party was asking me back.’ He jerked a thumb at himself and Kent. ‘Me and him, we’re the same.’

‘We are not.’

‘Every fucker hates us, right? But they can’t get rid of us because we’re too useful,’ Malcolm said, ignoring Kent’s comment. ‘Only difference is I like it and he just doesn’t care one way or the other.’

Sue folded her hands on the table. ‘What were you in prison for?’

‘Perjury and illegally releasing medical records to the press wasn’t it?’ Kent said.

‘Aye, allegedly,’ Malcolm said, waving his hand.

Kent caught Sue’s eye and she saw he was amused. Then he looked at Malcolm.

‘You were convicted,’ he said leaning forward. ‘That’s not an allegation, that’s a cold, hard fact.’

‘Well you’d know about cold and hard wouldn’t you?’ Malcolm winked at Sue. ‘Has he shown you his poll yet, love? Or is that what this is in aid of, a nice meal so you’ll let him mine your data?’

‘No,’ Sue said. ‘But he has repeatedly fucked me senseless.’

Malcolm grinned. ‘Oh, I like you! You’re definitely alright.’ He nodded at Kent. ‘You better put a ring on her before she realises what a boring old fucker you are. Emphasis on boring and old.’

‘What do you want Malcolm?’ Kent asked.

The Scott shrugged and glanced around at the diners nearby pretending not to listen. ‘Your princess fur coat and no knickers will be in Blighty for the anniversary right? Lay a wreath, patronise the locals, try not to fall on her arse too badly.’

‘I have literally no idea what you just said.’

‘I believe he’s asking about Selina’s visit to England,’ Sue said.

‘Exactly, exactly! What’s up, Kent, battery on your hearing aid running low?’

Kent took a sip of his wine. ‘Fifteen minutes is precisely how long it will take me to have your ESTA revoked and you back on a plane to Britain. Twenty-five minutes to have you permanently barred from returning.’

‘Anyway,’ Malcolm said, ignoring this, ‘our lot wants a meeting. On the QT, obviously. The General Election is on the horizon and the grab bag of toffs and wankers currently running the country are barely able to get along now, let alone for another four years. So it’s in your interest to play nice with us.’

Kent looked at Sue. ‘I understood “meeting”, you?’

She shrugged. ‘Something about an election that he thinks they might win.’

Kent shook his head. ‘The vice president’s schedule is full.’

‘Not with her! Jesus Christ, you think we don’t have enough problems without getting her toxic stupidity splattered all over us? No, no, no. We know that your president is fucking off soon and your VP is either taking over or crawling off to die in a hole. Not interested in either of them. We want the motherfucking cockroaches living in the walls after a nuclear apocalypse, not a pair of fucking butterflies who drop down dead at the first frost. You. Maybe that fat fucker Caffrey. Understand that?’

Kent nodded. ‘I’ll be in touch, provided that you leave and don’t come back.’

‘Fan-fucking-tastic.’ Malcolm picked up Sue’s hand and kissed her knuckles. ‘Pleasure meeting you, love. Au revoir and all that shite!’

They watched him stalk out of the door.

‘Did he just call you and Ben cockroaches?’ she asked.

‘From him it’s probably a compliment.’

Sue stood up. ‘I’m going to wash my hand.’

‘Good idea.’

 

 

They were eating dessert, and she was rubbing her toes along his calf, when his cell rang.

‘If it’s Ben, tell him that revenge will be swift and brutal,’ she said.

‘Have I told you how astonishingly erotic I find it when you talk that way?’ he asked.

Sue took a sip of wine, she was feeling ever so slightly dizzy. ‘You have now.’

Kent looked at the phone, and then shoved it in his pocket, still ringing.

‘You can reject the call.’

‘But then she’d know.’

Sue lifted her foot and slid it into his crotch. His eyes widened and he made a noise rather like a startled puppy.

‘Who is it?’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ he said, voice peaking. In his pocket the ringing finally ceased.

‘FLOTUS?’ She rubbed gently with her foot and watched his pupils flare.

‘Worse.’ He was gripping the table.

‘Selina?’

‘Worse.’ He closed his legs, trapping her foot between his thighs. A challenge.

‘Who?’ She sat forward, bending her leg at the knee, and putting her hand on his knee.

‘You’re cheating,’ he said softly.

‘You made me.’

‘Oh blame me,’ he said, smiling.

‘Who was on the phone?’

‘Charlie.’

That was a surprise, but he seemed more irritated than anything else. Certainly not guilty or shifty.

'Does she call you often?' Sue wondered.

Kent shook his head and took a sip of wine.

‘Maybe she wants you back,’ Sue suggested.

He almost spat out his drink. ‘I would rather date... Dan.’

Sue drained her glass. ‘Don’t joke. You know he’d jump at the chance.’

‘First you touch me up and then you make me feel sick,’ he grumbled playfully.

Sue lowered her foot and he let out a breath.

‘Why Dan?’ She asked pouring another. She ignored his frown as she filled her glass. ‘Why not Amy or Selina?’

‘I dislike Dan on a level that neither lady can come close to approaching.’

Sue sipped her wire. ‘So you would sleep with Amy or Selina?’

Kent blew out his cheeks. ‘I think this is the wine talking.’

‘What? It’s just a question. I’m merely curious.’

Damn somehow the wine had spilled. Not a huge amount but enough that they had to mop it up with napkins. 'Indulge me, Kent.’

He sighed and shrugged. ‘I have no romantic interest in either.’

‘If you had to, which one?’

‘I’m not playing this game, Sue,’ he said firmly.

‘Why not?’

‘Because there is no disinterested answer.’ He motioned to a nearby server. ‘And I can’t fight fire with fire because your options are Gary or Mike.’

 

 

She was a little disoriented in the cab, but not so much she couldn’t see he was annoyed. ‘Do you believe in going to bed angry?’ she asked.

‘I wouldn’t say it's a tenant of my faith,’ he said.’

‘Some people say that you shouldn't go to bed angry.’

Kent sighed. ‘Probably sensible although not always practiced.’

Sue laid her head on his shoulder. ‘Have I upset you, sir?’

‘You think that’s humorous?’

‘Yes.’ She took his hand. ‘Don’t be angry, Kent.’

‘I’m not angry. I am... disappointed,’ he said carefully.

Sue blinked slowly. ‘That sounds worse.’

 

The elevator was an issue. Between her sudden, random, dizziness, and the lurching motion she was very nearly thrown from her feet. First she clung to the rail, and then for the last five floors, to Kent.

She had to let him unlock her door and she stumbled after him into the bedroom.

‘Are you going to be alright?’ he asked as knelt down to unbuckle her shoes.

She was sat on her bed, watching the room spin. ‘What do you mean?’

Kent stood up and carefully hung up her jacket.

‘I mean do you want me to get a glass of water and some painkillers to put on your dresser for the morning?’

Sue stared at him as she struggled to untie her hair. ‘Huh?’

‘There.’ He unpinned her hair and then unzipped her dress. There was a brief, and weirdly nauseated blur of time and movement and then she was in her pyjamas.

That was embarrassing. It was far too early in the relationship for the humdrum nightclothes.

‘I’ve set your alarm,’ he said. ‘I’ll see you at work,’ he promised.

He kissed her forehead.

 _Her forehead_. If she’d be able to remain awake for more than thirty seconds afterwards she would have been mortified.


	9. Chapter 9

 

Sue wasn’t sure if she should do something about gnawing feeling in her stomach. She’d been up an hour and already availed herself of the water, painkillers, and mouthwash that someone, Kent presumably, had neatly laid out for her. He hadn’t stayed. He hadn’t left a note. He hadn’t sent a text. She was most definitely concerned.

He must have been there. No matter how drunk she was she would never have gone to bed with her pyjama top on backwards. That was just uncomfortable. She considered texting. But he was often terse to the point of obliqueness and she didn’t feel up to dealing with that.

 

 

She had just sat down at her desk when Selina and the senior staff arrived from Detroit. And Ray. Sue shook her head and regretted it. No matter how hung-over Sue was, Selina’s taste in men was baffling.

‘Where’s Ben?’ Sue asked politely.

‘Jesus, was he serious?’ Dan asked.

‘Of course not!’ Selina scoffed and then looked at Sue. ‘Was Ben serious?’

‘About what, ma ‘am?’

Selina shrugged. ‘He said he was going to buy a big box of chocolates to throw in your direction because he ruined some big dinner date.’

Sue narrowed her eyes. ‘I’m thrilled to have provided such amusement.’

‘Shit! Was it your birthday?’ Selina demanded. 'Because Gary normally-’

‘No, ma’am. I won a bet.’

‘Oh right,' Amy said, affecting casualness. ‘The whole “who will be the campaign manager” bet. Yeah, that was appropriate.’

Selina nudged her. ‘Oh, lighten up. Bad Loser. I can’t believe you’re still whining about that.’

‘Absolutely ma’am,’ Amy said as Selina strolled off into her office with Ray and Gary trailing behind her. ‘Once again, Sue, thank you _so_ much for your support.’

‘Once again, it wasn’t about support.’

‘Who had Ericsson?’ Dan asked, grinning.

Sue’s heart sank a little. He thought he’d worked something out. ‘Neither of us had Ericsson.’

‘I knew it, I fucking knew it!’

‘You don’t know anything, Dan,’ Sue said, trying to concentrate on her computer.

‘You set me up,’ Dan said admiringly. ‘You and Kent set me up. You did it to Amy too, right? One of you was betting on her so you worked together to get Ericsson knocked out of the running. What happened, was she too slow off the mark to get to the restaurant?’

‘What are you talking about?’ Amy asked suspiciously. ‘I thought Ericsson turned Selina down?’

‘But they weren’t taking chances,’ Dan said, bouncing on his toes. ‘So they made sure I “overheard” Kent talking to Selina about the meeting, knowing I’d go running over there.’

‘No we didn’t,’ Sue said flatly.

‘It was you wasn’t it, he wasn’t even talking to the Veep,’ Dan said, grinning.

Sue looked at him. ‘Hypothetically, if we were going to do that, then no. It would not have been the Veep.’

Amy threw up her hands. ‘Okay, what’re we saying, that you and Kent… tricked Dan into cockblocking Ericsson? Why?

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘I categorically deny that.’

Dan sniggered. ‘Hypothetically, Sue.’

‘Hypothetically, because Ericsson’s reputation is that he always fires the existing staff,’ Sue said. ‘In a survival situation I will always kill before I am killed.’

‘That is so awesome. I had no idea, you guys completely played me.'

Amy narrowed her eyes. ‘You’re excited that they manipulated you.’

Dan shook his head. ‘I admire skill, okay, and…hey!’ He turned to Sue. ‘You made me beg you for the name of the restaurant!’

‘If I simply told you then you would have been suspicious,’ Sue said.

‘You made me bribe you! I gave you a case of wine for info you wanted me to have!’ Dan said.

‘I did not make that happen,’ Sue said flatly.

‘Still think it’s awesome?’ Amy asked, folding her arms.

Dan looked at her. ‘Are you insane? I’m smart, okay? And these two played me like-’

‘Like a moron?’ Amy suggested.

‘Like an accordion,’ he said. ‘And that is just... awesome. I am in awe.’ He pointed at Sue. ‘Kent is good for you.’

‘Terrible for the rest of us,’ Amy muttered.

‘Oh wah, wah, cry more little orphan Amy. You heard her. Ericsson would be sacked us all anyway,’ Dan said. ‘Really they did us a favour in the most inspiring way possible.’

‘Who’s inspiring?’ Mike asked, wandering in alongside Ben. Mike was carrying a huge bouquet of white tulips and purple hyacinths. Ben was carrying a box of chocolates.

‘Holy shit, Don Juan, if you’re cheating on Wanda already don’t bring the flowers into the office. That’s tacky,’ Dan said.

‘My wife’s name is Wendy,’ Mike said, scowling. ‘Damn it Dan, you came to our wedding!’

‘Wendy, Wanda, Waldo, who gives a fuck.’

‘These are for you,’ Mike said, ignoring Dan, holding the flowers out to Sue.

Sue looked at them suspiciously and didn’t reach out. ‘Why are you giving me flowers, Mike?’

‘I’m not giving you flowers,’ he said, still holding them out. ‘I mean, I’m giving you flowers but I’m not GIVING you flowers.’

‘Have you had a stroke?’ Amy asked.

‘No! I’m not giving you flowers, Sue, I’m passing you flowers. Handing you flowers. Giv… no, not give!’

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake,’ Ben groaned. ‘What he means is, they were delivered for you, Sue. He just brought them up.’

‘Oh. Then thank you, Mike.’ Sue took the bouquet but didn’t have a chance to look at the card before Ben handed her the candies.

‘Real sorry about sticking you with the British Vampire last night,’ Ben said. ‘Well, not on Kent. I’d have paid money to see that. But you didn’t deserve your evening ruined.’

Sue put the candies on the desk. ‘If you think that a box of candies from Walmart will compensate for a ruined meal at a five star restaurant then I understand your many divorces.’

‘I guess that’s fair. Think of it this way, if you’re being chased by a man-eating tiger you don’t have to actually outrun the tiger, just you buddy that’s with you.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘You would throw me to a tiger to save yourself. That is good to know. I am glad we had this conversation.’

Ben shrugged. ‘Hey, you met the guy. You’d have told him too if it stopped him screaming in your ear.’

Who’re we talking about?’ Mike asked.

‘Malcolm Tucker,’ Sue said, checking the card on the flowers.

‘Oh, fuck, what’s that about the shittiest man in British politics?’ Selina asked, leaning back against the wall.

Sue frowned, annoyed that the cluster of people around her desk had blocked her from realising that Selina’s door had opened.

‘He’s in D.C.’ Ben said regretfully. ‘He called up and screamed at me last night. He was looking for Kent.

‘Jesus! Didn’t he go to prison? How the fuck did he even get in the country?’ Selina asked.

‘Kent threatened to rip up his ESTA and have him deported,’ Sue said.

Selina nodded. ‘Yeah? Good. Fucking excellent. Let’s do that!’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘Who’re the flowers from, Sue?’

Sue turned and put the bouquet down in a corner behind her. ‘Malcolm Tucker.’

‘He sent you flowers?’ Ben asked incredulously. ‘The man who once made POTUS cry sent you flowers?’

‘He made POTUS cry? Holy shit! Is he still in the country? I gotta meet this guy,’ Dan exclaimed.

‘What did he want anyway?’ Selina asked. ‘Because I do not want a meeting with him. Okay? Under no circumstances put him in my diary, I don’t care if he screams like a fucking banshee. Not even if he takes all your family hostage and threatens to make them watch Downton Abbey until their eyes bleed. No meeting.’

‘Okay, Ma’am,’ Sue said.

Selina paused. ‘Did he _want_ a meeting with me?’

‘No.’

Selina nodded. ‘Right. Why would he want a meeting with me, I’m just the motherfucking vice president! He’s a bully boy who works for the _losers_.’

‘Was there something that you wanted, Ma’am?’ Sue asked.

‘What? Oh. Shit. Yeah. I need you to arrange a meeting with this NSA local fucking director. What was the name, Gary?’

‘Gainsborough, Ma’am,’ Gary murmured.’

‘Oh fuck, not Charlie Gainsborough?’ Ben asked. ‘Ma’am, why would you want to do that?’

Selina looked at him and then at Gary. ‘Is that the same person?’

Gary frowned slightly. ‘Yes, I think so.’

Selina waved her hand Ben. ‘So what’s the problem with this Gainsborough guy?’

Ben looked at Sue.

‘I’ve never met her,’ Sue said, pretending to concentrate on her computer.

‘Why’re you looking at Sue?’ Selina asked. ‘You’re the one who has a problem with...’ She turned to Sue. ‘Hey, Charlie is a woman? How did you know that?’

‘I believe I have heard Ben mention her before, over dinner.’

‘You had dinner with Ben? I thought you were fucking Kent?’ Selina asked.

Sue opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

‘Oh right.’ Mike said. ‘At the burger place after Amy’s terrible dinner party. I knew I’d heard that name before.’

‘Hey!’ Amy protested. 'My dinner party was fucking awesome. Do you know how much I paid those caterers?' 

‘It was terrible, Amy,’ Sue said, recovering herself. ‘Ma’am, Mike, myself, Ben and... and Kent all went to dinner.’

‘And Ben talked about the crazy NSA liaison leaving her panties in an official car,’ Mike added.

Dan folded his arms and stared at Mike. ‘You went to dinner with Ben and Kent? How the fuck did you get an invitation to that dinner? Where was I?’

‘At Maddox’s country house,’ Amy said.

‘Oh God, why is every conversation with you people like filling fourth graders full of sugar?’ Selina threw her hands in the air. ‘Sue, please just arrange for this Gainsborough person to come in. Everyone needs to be here.’

‘Ma’am, is this a good idea?’ Mike asked. ‘What if she puts bugs and listening devices everywhere?’

‘Mike, they’re security agents, not vampires,’ Sue said. ‘If they really wanted to bug us they wouldn’t need an invitation into the building.’

‘I don’t want to be bugged! ‘Gary panicked.

Selina stared at him. ‘What’re you worrying about? You don’t have a life for them to spy on.’

Gary pouted. ‘I have secrets! My life is complex and full of mystery.’

Dan snorted as he tried to supress his laughter while Selina patted Gary on the arm.

‘Sure you do Gary. Sue, let me know when our friendly neighbourhood spy is coming to visit.’

‘Yes Ma’am.’

 

 

Sue took a deep breath and then tapped on the door to Kent’s office. At his ‘come in’ she opened the door and strode through, shutting the door behind her. He looked up from his computer and then stood up to pull out a chair for her.

That was a relief.

‘Good morning,’ he said, a little warily.

‘Good morning,’ Sue said, sitting down and smoothing out her skirt.

‘You’re shaking.’ Kent said, briefly touching her shoulder as he walked past her and sat down.

‘I would rather you didn’t point that out.’

‘Apologies,’ he said, picking up a paperclip. ‘I was forgetting that you mustn’t show vulnerability or human weakness.’

Sue brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. ‘You didn’t stay last night.’

‘No.’

‘Did I not ask?’

She watched him pause for thought. He looked down at his hands as he played with the paperclip.

‘You did, you were quite persuasive,’ he said, ‘However, I didn’t feel comfortable remaining at your apartment.’ Kent looked at her. ‘Irrespective of my reputation, I am only human and I didn’t wish to risk the possibility, however remote, of doing something regrettable and inappropriate.’

Sue crossed her legs at the knee. ‘Being inebriated does not mean I am incapable of consenting.’

‘It doesn’t help.’

She didn’t much care for the expression on his face. She’d seen it before on previous partners. ‘Please don’t lecture me.’

He held up his hands. ‘Wouldn’t dream of it. You’re a grown woman.’

‘And now you say but or however and tell me how disappointed you are,’ she said.

‘No. You know how I feel. There’s no need for me to labour the point,’ Kent said, shrugging. ‘Did you sleep well?’

‘My top was on backwards.’

‘Ah. There’s always something.’ He leant forward and put his hand over hers. ‘Please don’t consider last night to be a rejection.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘Why would I take being rejected as a rejection?’

Kent shook his head. ‘Tell me what you want me to say.’

‘That you regret it.’

‘Of course I regret it,’ he said as if it was obvious. ‘I could have spent the night with you and I didn’t.’ He shrugged. ‘That does not mean it was the wrong decision.’

Sue frowned. ‘I should not find that charming.’

‘It wasn’t intended to be.’ Kent gave a small smile. ‘I’m self-aware enough not to think “charming” is in my repertoire.’ His hand was still on top of hers.

‘Is this where I tell you that I find you charming?’ Sue asked, raising an eyebrow. ‘I expect more from you than fishing for compliments.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of attempting such a cheap manipulation with you.’

Sue returned his smile and then licked her lips, choosing her words carefully. ‘I was concerned.’

‘As was I.’ Kent spread out his hands. ‘Do you remain concerned?’

She shook her head.

‘Perhaps we can move on?’

‘Yes. I believe I know why Charlie was calling you last night.’ She had wondered if Charlie had tried again and this time told him, but his confused expression said otherwise.

‘Did she call you?’ he asked warily.

‘No, she’s coming in to see Selina. There's going to be a meeting with all of us,’ Sue said, allowing herself a shrug. ‘Evidently she was somehow involved with this French embassy situation.’

Kent sagged back in his chair and covered his face with his hands. ‘I don’t believe this,’ he muttered.

‘Oh, and Mike helpfully told everyone that Ben had called her crazy,’ she added. She watched him drop his hands. ‘She’s a local director. That seems to be a significant promotion from liaison.’

Kent let out a breath. ‘Ben’s acceptance of the official line has long been a mystery to me. Although by no means a deep thinker he’s not actually a stupid man.’ He waved a hand. ‘Not that she hasn’t had certain… issues.’

Sue nodded and rested her hands on her knee. ‘I’m not asking you to break protocol.’

He looked at her for a long moment. ‘There were no panties in any official car.’

‘Good.’

‘Good?’

‘It would be no compliment to me if your taste in women ran to ones who would be so lacking in taste, discretion, and good sense,’ Sue said firmly.

Kent laughed a little. ‘That is certainly true.’ He leant forward onto the desk and drummed his fingers on the desk. ‘You are too intelligent and too perceptive to meet her and believe the official story.’

‘That’s why you’re telling me.’ It wasn’t a question and he didn’t agree or disagree. ‘Were you dating her at the time?’

She watched him try to work out the reason for the question and then shake his head.

‘No.’ He reached across the desk to touch the back of her hand. ‘You’re wondering if I stood by silently while she was railroaded.’

‘I am curious as to the answer,’ she admitted. Her tone was light and even but she rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb.

‘She volunteered,’ he said. ‘I… did not like it, but it wasn’t my decision to make.’ Kent stroked her knee. ‘I didn’t propagate the story neither did I debunk it.’

Sue watched him closely. ‘If you had been dating would you have intervened?’

Kent shook his head slowly. ‘I’ve never dated a woman who would want me to.’

‘That wasn’t what I was asking.’ Sue frowned. She wasn’t sure if he was uncomprehending of her point or avoiding it. She was going to have be explicit, something she had been hoping to avoid. ‘If a situation arose would you intervene on my behalf or defend me?’

Kent tilted his head as he looked at her. ‘Is there something I should know about?’

‘No. It is a purely hypothetical question.’

He shrugged but kept her gaze. ‘I would if it was what you wanted. You’re a strong woman, Sue, and I wouldn’t wish to offer you the insult of implying that you need my protection or defence.’

Sue looked away and fussed with her skirt. ‘There are moments when protectiveness and strength can be reassuring.’ She heard him stand up and walk over. She closed her eyes as he took her hand and kissed the side of her face.

‘I always find yours to be so,’ he said.

His tone was grave but she knew when she looked at him that his eyes would be dancing.

‘Don't be ridiculous,’ she said, gently pushing his shoulder. She watched him step back.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing.’ She stood up.

Kent put his hands on his hips. ‘I implore you, Sue, not to imagine I am capable of dealing any social cues more subtle than a brick to the face.’

‘The thought had never crossed my mind.’

She wished that he’d give her a smart retort, or pull a face, or even just ignore her. But he didn’t, he stood looking at her thoughtfully, as if he was trying to puzzle out some data.

‘Are you concerned about meeting Charlie?’ he asked eventually.

‘I wasn’t.’

‘I wondered if perhaps Amy had said something.’

Now she was completely perplexed. ‘You thought Amy might have said something about your ex?’

‘I suppose it was an improbably thought. Do you have a headache?'

'I do.' 

'Do you need a painkiller?’

‘I would welcome one, and something approaching a coherent conversation.’ She took the offered pill and water gratefully. ‘Amy knew Charlie?’

‘I don’t believe they’ve ever met.’ He held up his hands. 'It was years ago. Amy hadn’t been with the campaign long. Right out of college I believe. There was a minor scandal I was sent to clear up in North Carolina. Charlie and I had broken up recently. It was not amicable.’

Sue crossed her arms. Amy had said something about North Carolina hadn’t she?

‘While I was there all my cards were reported as stolen. My hotel reservation was cancelled. I was only just able to call the campaign before I ran out of money.'

‘What does this have to do with Amy?’

Kent shrugged. ‘She flew out with cash and a few other things. I couldn’t just fly back as I was in the middle of dealing with... with the problem.’ He scratched his forehead. ‘We booked flights back on the card she brought, paid off the blackmailer, and went to get a room. At which point Amy’s cards were declined as they had been reported stolen.’

Sue blinked. ‘So Ben was right. Charlie is insane.’

‘I wouldn’t want you to think she regularly behaved that way,’ he said. ‘She was under a great deal of stress. I cannot emphasise that enough.’

‘You’re too forgiving.’ Sue gently straightened his tie. ‘How did you get back?’

‘We had barely enough money for a flea ridden motel.’ He pulled a face. ‘I slept in the bath. The next morning we were both arrested for credit card theft.’

She couldn’t help but laugh. ‘You and Amy?’

‘Yes, and it was exactly like every cliché of southern jail you’ve ever seen.’ He waved his hand as her eyes widened. ‘Not that. We weren’t there that long. Amy called the campaign who said someone would look into it.’ Kent sighed. ‘We waited until the afternoon. Then I called my cousin. He’s a sheriff in South Carolina. He had it sorted at in under an hour.’ He shrugged. ‘He booked us into a much better class of hotel. I had a nice meal on room service while he took Amy out to dinner.’

Sue raised her eyebrows. ‘Why didn’t you call him in the beginning?’

‘Because he’s a charming, scheming psychopath and I was extremely wary of giving him any leverage over me. As it was we flew back the day after. Charlie had already thought better of the whole mess and we never spoke of it again.’

‘And Amy knows that Charlie is responsible?’ Sue checked.

‘To the best of my knowledge.’

 

 

It was not much of a surprise when Amy sidled up to Sue’s desk and asked if she wanted to go out and get some lunch. Sue had been rather expecting that. She couldn’t deny though that she was both surprised and gratified by the attempted discretion. She had been horrified by Selina’s blunt reference to her relationship with Kent.

At the deli they sat down: Sue with salad and Amy with a tired looking sandwich. Amy gulped down a coffee and immediately started on a refill. Sue waited for her to speak.

‘So this Charlie Gainsborough,’ Amy said eventually. 'You know she’s crazy on an epic level, right? Like fucking insane?’

‘Kent told me about North Carolina,’ Sue said carefully.

Amy’s eyes widened. ‘What did he tell you?’

‘That you were stranded when Charlie had your cards cancelled.’ Sue watched Amy relax a fraction, at least as much as Amy seemed physically capable of relaxation.

‘Right? I never even met the woman!’

‘What did you think I meant?’ Sue asked.

Amy took a bite of her sandwich and looked off out of the window. ‘Nothing. Let’s move on.’

‘Is this about Kent’s cousin?’ Sue asked, smiling slightly. ‘Kent said he’d taken you to dinner.’

Amy cringed. ‘Is that all he said? He didn’t mention photographs or anything?’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘Kent took photographs of you?’

‘What? No. Holy fuck! No! Eww.’ Amy grabbed her bottle of water and took a big gulp. ‘Look, I was young, and I was a fucking idiot, and Lucas was insanely hot.’

Sue twirled her fork in her salad. ‘Well, this has been fascinating.’

‘Christ, I can’t believe I told you that and for no reason.’ Amy took a gulp of her coffee. ‘So nothing bad has happened to your credit cards or phone?’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘Not yet.’

Amy shook her head. ‘Of all the people to get so completely fucking deranged about. He’s hardly George fucking Clooney.’

Sue took a sip of her coffee. ‘Have you ever had a romantic relationship with him?’

‘No, but-’

‘Have you have a conversation with him that wasn’t about work in some way?’ Sue asked.

‘Again, no, but...’

‘Then you don’t know the first thing about it, do you?’ Sue watched Amy flush, partly in embarrassment and partly in anger.

‘I’ve known him longer than you have,’ she said.

‘No, you’ve worked with him longer. That’s not the same thing.’ Sue concentrated on her salad for a few bites, letting her annoyance dissipate.

‘Christ on a fucking cracker,’ Amy muttered. ‘Please don’t tell me you’re going to get married and have a hundred babies.’

Sue snorted as she looked up. ‘There will be no babies.’

Amy swallowed a mouthful of food. ‘You sure you’re on the same page? Guys can be weirdly into all shit.’

‘We have discussed it. He is not paternal. I am not maternal.’

‘Look at you two having the responsible conversations right up front.’ Amy finished her second coffee. ‘Selina is going to shit a brick if you guys are serious. She’s sure you’re just in it for the sex.’

Sue raised her eyebrows. ‘Me?’

Amy waved her sandwich. ‘You plural. He gives absolutely killer head.’ Amy’s eyes widened. ‘I mean, that what Selina said.’

Sue had to take a deep breath. ‘How would she know that?’

‘I guess someone… told her? Oh god, I feel sick.’ Amy dropped her sandwich as she fled.

Sue finished her coffee and bought a bottle of water. She wasn’t feeling very well either.


	10. Chapter 10

 

Charlie had an assistant. His name was David and he said ‘Ms. Gainsborough’, as if he was discussing the second coming.

He also said that he’d been told to book ‘any time this afternoon.’

Sue counted to five. ‘That is far too short notice.’

‘Gosh, is it? We like to be able to react to issues as they arise rather than being all hidebound and bureaucratic,’ he cooed.

‘Will you be accompanying the director?’ Sue asked.

‘Ooh, I don’t know yet.’

‘If you do, bring a gag or failing that an ice pack,’ Sue said.

‘An icepack?’

‘For your face when you trip over my hidebound bureaucracy.’

Selina was pissed. Sue didn’t much care. She was not in much of a mind to care what Selina thought at all.

‘Why are we running around to accommodate them when they screwed us over?’ Amy asked. ‘Some of us more than once.’

Selina flapped Gary away. ‘Because if, finally, someone is going to make a grovelling apology to me then I’m not going to let be strangled by scheduling.’ Selina scowled. ‘Although she seemed to think she needed to apologise more for having the party poopers beat up her agent than the embarrassment of us being in the fucking embassy while they were robbing it.’

‘Maybe she doesn’t want to make an apology,’ Gary said. ‘Maybe they’re going to kidnap Sue and Kent as revenge.’

‘In front of a roomful of people?’ Selina asked. ‘They’re not the KGB, Gary.’

‘Well, she is fucking crazy,’ Amy said.

‘She’s a woman,’ Selina said, ‘in a male dominated environment. So let’s not be too quick to hurl around "crazy", okay? Crazy is the new bitch.’

 

 

At exactly two fifty-six Sue heard the tap-tap of spike heels coming along the corridor. She kept her head down as she pretended to concentrate on her computer. Kent had evidently forgiven Charlie but Sue was not feeling so charitable.

‘Good afternoon, I have a meeting with the vice president at three o’clock.’ The voice was soft but with a strong southern lilt.

Sue looked up, the other woman was in her late forties with shoulder length blonde hair in neat Botticelli curls. She had wide brown eyes in a heart shaped face, tasteful make-up, and an elegant, and expensively tailored, chocolate brown skirt suit.

‘Name?’

The other woman smiled slightly. ‘Charlotte Gainsborough. My goodness, what pretty flowers. Someone must be in the doghouse with you!’ At Sue’s blank expression she continued. ‘White tulips and purple hyacinths both mean regret and apology in the language of flowers.’

‘I do not speak “flower”,’ Sue said. ‘You’re early. If you’ll wait then I will inform the vice president that you are here.’

‘Maybe I can help,’ Dan said, slinking up to them. He held out his hand and gave Charlie a wide smile. ‘Hi, Dan Egan, can I get you a coffee?’

Charlie flashed Sue a quick look of amusement before inclining her head to him. ‘That would be kind, thank you.’

As Sue stood up she saw that the skirt of Charlie’s suit reached mid-thigh and had a small slit up the side. Sue shook her head as she opened the door to Selina’s office. It would be nice if she had legs that good when she was that age.

‘Ma’am, the NSA local director is here,’ Sue announced.

Selina dropped her head into her hands. ‘Shit on a shingle. Okay. Go get Kent. I’ve had it with him being fucking missing when we have a meeting.’

Sue nodded. ‘Yes Ma’am.’ As she walked out she heard Gary asking if he had to be there for the meeting. If Sue was more interested than she might wonder quite where his paranoia came from.

 

 

Kent was just pulling on his jacket when she walked into his office.

‘Have you been sent to corral me, Miss Wilson?’ he guessed.

‘That it so, Mr. Davison.’ Sue brushed some lint from his lapel. ‘Why are you smiling at me?’

‘No reason particularly.’ He brushed the side of her face with his fingers. ‘I was expecting Selina to pull some passive aggressive stunt like making her wait.’ He followed her out of the door.

‘She was trying to but Dan undercut her efforts by oozing over and offering coffee.’

Kent snorted. ‘She eats little boys like that for breakfast.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘What about you, Sir? Do you eat little girls for breakfast?’

‘Little girls have never interested me.’

‘Not even when you were a little boy?’

‘Not even then,’ he said gravely.

 

 

They almost bumped into Mike as they headed into the bullpen.

‘I was really hoping to avoid this,’ Mike muttered. ‘These aren’t people you want to be knowing who you are.’

‘Stay at the back and say as little as possible,’ Kent advised.

‘Yes, pretend it’s Selina asking for volunteers to work late,’ Sue said tartly.

It seemed that everyone was trying to hide at the back, everyone but Dan. He always did have a thing for mature women. Without conscious discussion Sue and Kent sat apart - Sue with Amy, who was glaring viciously, and Kent with an anxious looking Ben. Did he really believe that story about the official car, or was he a very good liar? Sue could believe either.

‘Okay, everyone, here we are again having our very busy day of, you know, running the country disrupted by an unaccountable security agency,’ Selina sneered.

Sue shook her head. Charlie looked like a rabbit in headlights, casting Selina as the aggressor.

‘I’m extremely grateful that you’ve given me the opportunity to apologise,’ Charlie said.

‘Hey, give nothing, I had to practically threaten your funding just to get someone to answer the phone,’ Selina snapped.

Charlie gave a brittle smile, and both Mike and Ben, Ben of all people, made sympathetic noises. It was enough to make you want to bang their heads together.

‘I’ve been told... that is authorised to arrange an official visit to our headquarters for everyone we inconvenienced. We can’t endorse a candidate of course but...’ she trailed off.

‘Nice,’ Amy said grudgingly, ‘see how she implies the whole mess has been cause by some higher up who’s landed her with the blame?’

‘If we visit will we get to play with the cool toys and James Bond shit?’ Dan asked.

Charlie smiled, genuinely this time. ‘Well absolutely!’

She gave a short statement about the "unfortunate event" and "how regretful" everyone at the agency was. Sue didn’t really listen. She had seen Mike write too many official apologies to be taken in. But it was interesting to see how everyone else was responding: Selina melting at flattery, Gary openly hostile, Mike and Ben practically cooing, Amy softening, Dan admiring, and Kent, arms and legs tightly crossed while he stared in another direction. Surely that was obvious even to everyone in the room?

‘I have a question,’ Gary said.

Charlie smiled as she turned to face him. ‘Sure thing, go right ahead.’

Gary didn’t return her smile. 'How was your agent mugging them going to work?’

Selina wrinkled her nose. ‘That’s... kind of a good question.’

‘Thank you, Ma’ am!’

‘I mean, were they in danger? Do you have any idea how expensive a good assistant and a good strategy guy are?’

Sue heard Kent snort. So he was listening then.

‘I hear your concerns and I absolutely understand them,’ Charlie said. ‘I want to assure you that our operatives are all very highly trained and extremely competent in dealing with fluid and rapidly changing situations. Please rest assured that they are experts at what they do and that is why American information gathering is some of the best in the world. I hope that puts your mind at rest,’ she said smoothly.

‘No, not really –’ Gary began.

‘Does anyone else have any questions?’

‘If they’re so highly trained how come your guy got cold cocked by a woman so drunk she could barely walk in a straight line?’ Ben asked, ‘No offense, Sue.’

Sue was getting just a little irritated by Ben’s ‘no offense’ offensive statements.

Charlie’s smile grew a little more strained. ‘Hi Ben. Gosh it’s been a while.’

‘Hey. Uh. My question?’

Charlie straightened her jacket. ‘Well, Ben, I guess I have three points in answer to your question. Number one, as you know, it’s impossible to be prepared for every eventuality. Number two, you are being terribly unfair to poor Miss Wilson. Surveillance footage shows her running from the scene for about two hundred yards. Mostly in a straight line.’ She winked at Sue, who stared at her. ‘Number three, Miss Wilson did not cold cock our operative. She punched him in the face, which certainly surprised him, and she ran away. He did have quite a black eye the day after.’

‘I thought his jaw was broken?’ Mike muttered.

‘Hmm hmm,’ Charlie agreed. ‘But that wasn’t Miss Wilson.’

Selina snorted. ‘So what, he tripped over his own feet?’

‘Am I the only one paying attention?’ Dan asked. ‘If Sue ran away than that leaves Kent, right?’

‘No fucking way,’ Ben snorted. ‘There is no fucking way Kent broke someone’s jaw.’

‘Try me, Ben,’ he said dryly.

‘Why not ask us for the thumb drive?’ Sue said to Charlie.

‘Yeah, your fucking inside man had already literally given it to them. There’s some breach of security right there,’ Selina said. ‘What if it had got lost in the scuffle?’

‘I will absolutely hold my hands up and admit that we were not anticipating a fist fight.’ Charlie shrugged. ‘Our risk assessment did not take Miss Wilson into account.’

‘Oh, you are _not_ blaming me.’

Charlie held up a hand, literally this time. ‘Oh, gosh, no. No, no, we did not have all the relevant facts and as a consequence of that our extraction plan was flawed. I absolutely admit that.’ She looked Sue right in the eye. ‘But you can be sure, Miss Wilson, we now have all the relevant information and we would not make that mistake again.’

Sue had to give the woman credit, it was certainly the politest vague threat that she’d ever received.

‘Are you saying it was always the plan to palm it on me, hope I leave early, and mug me on the way home?’ Kent said sharply, still not looking in Charlie’s direction.

Charlie tensed as she looked at him. To Sue he still looked defensive although his tone was just clinging to neutral.

‘Be fair, Kent, even the unluckiest asshole in Vegas history wouldn’t go broke betting you’d go home early,’ Ben said.

Kent shook his head. ‘As always, Ben, your ability to miss the point in favour of concentrating on useless and trivial distractions remains impressive.’

‘Jesus, we’re going to be here all day,’ Selina groaned. ‘Sue, please sort out the calendar with Ms Gainsborough. Kent, Ben, you stay. I want a word with you both.’

Amy shared a look with Sue as they left the office. ‘Have a ball with your calendar,’ Amy said dryly. ‘I for one have no desire to go watch Dan running around the NSA headquarters like a six year old in Childish Assholes R Us.’

Sue sat down at her desk and took a breath. Well, she was glad she’d heard the truth about the notorious underwear. The woman who played the room, all the while deliberately letting the observant see the truth, was not a woman who forgot something like that.

‘You mind if I sit down while we sort this out?’ Charlie asked.

Sue shrugged, and wished she hadn’t when Charlie pulled the chair around the side of the desk.

‘This is a bit cosier,’ she said, taking out a cell. ‘Normally David sorts out this kind of thing but, well, he’s kind of an acquired taste.’ She gave Sue a companionable smile. ‘I don’t blame you for not taking to him.’

‘I do not appreciate being insulted or treated like a fool,’ Sue said flatly.

‘I would expect nothing else. Oh, honey, a word to the wise, you wanna pop your flowers into some water or 7-Up or they’re going to shrivel up.’

Sue looked at them distastefully. I have no intention of ever seeing Mr. Tucker again. Flowers or no.’

Charlie blinked at her. ‘Not Malcolm Tucker?’

‘He barged in while I was eating a very nice meal.’ Sue flicked a gesture at the flowers.

Charlie winced. ‘Oh, gosh. I hope you won’t think me too rude or forward but you might just want to just up and throw them away.’ She inclined her head towards Selina’s door. ‘Before someone sees? Better safe and that kinda thing.’

‘For sending me flowers to apologise?’ Sue checked. She had no idea whether to believe the other woman, but little to lose from pretending she did.

Charlie touched Sue’s hand. ‘Honey, defending what’s yours is what America is all about.’

Sue silently put the flowers in the waste bin. He had said he was jealous but this needed more investigation.

They heard Selina start shouting.

‘My goodness, she hasn’t changed at all has she?’ Charlie laughed. ‘I met her back when she first ran for senator. She doesn’t remember me at all but I remember she used to scream up a storm. Never seemed to realise how many clothes got lost or stories leaked or worse every time she did. People are only human. They’re gonna find a way to get even.’

A retort about cancelling credit cards was right on the tip of Sue’s tongue. She resisted.

‘What were you doing then?’ Sue asked.

‘Oh, this and that. I think I was going through my training,’ Charlie said vaguely. She pursed her lips again. ‘You don’t remember me either do you? This place is just destroying my ego!’

‘What?’

‘We met in the ER?’ Charlie prompted. ‘When Kent found that thumb drive in his pocket he just about blew a fuse.’ She gave Sue a conspiratorial look. ‘You know how he can be. Insisted I come get it in person right away, or he’d hand it over to the CIA!’

‘Is that bad?’

‘Oh darling, you have no idea! Uncle Sam’s security services do not play well together.’ Charlie shrugged. ‘You had on the most beautiful blue-green dress. Shame your hand was the size of an orange.’ She grinned. ‘You’ve got great instincts.’

‘Did we speak?’

‘Not much, you were feeling poorly and he was in Daddy Bear mode.’ She looked wistful for a moment. ‘I hope you’ll come visit us at the office. I really do feel bad about you getting dragged into the whole mess.’

‘I do not care about spy toys,’ Sue said briskly.

‘Me either but we have some great art, a fantastic library, and a lovely restaurant.’

Sue folded her hands together. ‘Why choose those to highlight?’

‘Call it a hunch.’

‘Is he alright?’

‘Who?’ Charlie asked.

‘The agent with the broken jaw.’

Charlie wrinkled her nose. ‘It’s wired shut. I guess it’s one way to lose those last few holiday pounds.’

Sue snorted. ‘Maybe next time he’ll say please.’

‘Anything’s possible.’

 

 

When the time came to leave, Sue found Kent slumped at his desk. She put her hand on his shoulder and he tilted his head to look up at her.

‘I could use a nap.’

‘Then you shouldn’t spend ninety minutes on the cell instead of sleeping.’

He looked at her and she silently cursed herself.

‘She’s my friend,’ he said mildly.

‘When was the last time you called her in the early hours of the morning? You’re her friend. That’s not necessarily the same thing as her being yours.’ Sue sat on the desk.

‘I sincerely doubt that you would be happier about the situation if I had been the one to call her.’

Sue shook her head. ‘Possessive, not jealous. I don’t like people taking advantage of you.’ She tapped the desk. ‘Not FLOTUS. Not Charlie. Not anyone else.’

Kent stretched. ‘Anyone else?’

‘Who was your one night stand with?’

He shook his head. ‘Not with FLOTUS.’

‘With Selina.’ It wasn’t a question but his expression was an answer. ‘You didn’t tell me.’

Kent sighed and rubbed his forehead. ‘I didn’t think it was important. It was a very long time ago.’ He looked at her sheepishly. ‘I was concerned you might think less of me.’

'Not going to happen,' she said, putting her hand over his. 

'It's not something of which I am proud.' 

'It would be creepy if you were.' Sue kissed his cheek and stood up. 'Nonetheless, you should have told me.' 

'I should.' 

Sue wound his tie around her fist and put her foot up on the seat of his chair. ‘You have too many secrets, Mr Davison.’

‘I’m not the one with a bouquet of flowers in my waste basket,’ he said.

‘I didn’t want them.’ Sue shrugged. ‘I hope you would expect me to hide a secret better.’

‘Perhaps it’s a double bluff,’ Kent suggested. He gently put his hand on her knee, fingers lightly resting on her bare skin.

‘Mr Tucker sent them. Ms Gainsborough strongly advised that I dispose of them.’ Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘She implied that there would be consequences to him.’

He thought about it, his fingers moving in slow circles. ‘I cannot claim it to be an argument entirely without merit.’

Sue put her other hand over the hand on her knee. ‘Would you fight for me, Mr. Davison?’

‘Absolutely, Miss Wilson.’

‘Good.’ She moved his hand up to her thigh. ‘It’s your turn to ask if I would.’

‘I don’t need to ask.’ Kent smiled slightly. ‘But feel free to make a grand declaration.’

Sue lowered her foot. ‘I prefer actions.’

‘Should I be afraid?’

‘You should be aware. Mercy is for the weak.’ She slid her free hand into his hair as she leant down to kiss him.

‘I love it when you talk dirty,’ he murmured.

The door to his office banged open. ‘Hey, Kent, just… oh what the fuck? Are you shitting me with this Lewinsky crap?’ Ben was in the doorway, shaking his head.

‘Is the melodrama strictly necessary?’ Kent asked as Sue stepped back.

‘Ask me again when this administration is being lawfucked up the ass with a harassment suit! When you were screwing around on your time that was bad enough. But in the god damn campaign office?’ Ben shook his head. ‘I thought you were smarter than that.’

‘I’m not going to sue anyone,’ Sue said flatly.

‘I might,’ Kent suggested. ‘I’m the one who was sat here minding his own business.’

She nodded. ‘It’s true, I was harassing Mr. Davison. You’re his witness.’

Ben put his hand on his hip. ‘You two picked a great time to find your senses of humour.’

‘What do you want, Ben?’ Kent asked.

Sue flicked one of her bangs with her fingers as Ben sighed heavily.

‘Guess which overpaid sex toy just had a fucking whizz bang idea that Selina just has to discuss with us right now?’ he asked. ‘So beat down your hard-on, we gotta go see her.’

Kent sighed heavily. ‘Fine.’ He waved a hand. ‘Would you wait outside?’

‘Jesus! You’re not actually pitching wood are you, Pinocchio?’

Kent stood up, putting his hands on his hips as he did. ‘I would like to finish my conversation with Miss Wilson, thank you.’

‘Right, “conversation”,’ Ben huffed as he stomped away. ‘I’m working with fucking teenagers.’

Kent shook his head and shoved his hand in his pocket. ‘Um…'

'Yes?' Sue asked.

Kent cleared his throat and fumbled in his pocket. 'Uh, I think it’s safe to say that we are both practical people. Lately we’ve been spending most of our evenings together and that has certain concomitant disadvantages of lacking clothes and necessary products as well as the issues of logistics and security which is not to say the benefits do not massively outweigh those as they clearly do-’

‘Kent, give me the key.’

‘Oh thank you,’ he said, and pulled it out of his pocket.

It was clearly brand new and on a small key chain with a tiny, leather-bound book. Sue smiled as she opened her purse. ‘This is very nice.’ She held out the key she’d had cut. ‘I only have the key.’

‘Not really a key chain person,’ he said, returning her smile. ‘Thank you.’

Ben thumped loudly on the door. ‘Are you not done yet? What is this, tantric chat?’

‘I’ll see you at my apartment later on?’ Kent suggested.

‘Look forward to it.’


	11. Chapter 11

 

It was a rare Friday night that saw the staff leaving before six. Sue almost had to drag Amy out to a nearby bar. They sat in a corner, nursing their drinks, and glowering at anyone who attempted to make eye contact.

‘I cannot believe that she’s still dragging Ray around like a damn security blanket,’ Amy groaned. ‘Who knew that Dan would be so good at sex trafficking?’

‘I would rather talk about the trip to London. Has she decided who will be going?’ Sue asked.

‘Mmm, no go,’ Amy said, shaking her head. ‘She needs you back here.’

Sue frowned and took a sip of her cocktail. ‘That is disappointing.’

‘It’s shitty anyway. You don’t get to see anything fun. You spend the entire time either in hotels or offices. Selina is screaming at you round the clock and your HBO-fucking-Go will not work.’ Amy gulped down her drink and gestured at the bartender for another. ‘You were really hoping to go huh?’

‘It’s fine.’

Amy looked at Sue over the top of the glass. ‘You’d have much more fun visiting on your own.’

Sue snorted. ‘Going on my own would not be my first choice.’

‘Vacations are overrated. You can’t get anything done and if you’re with someone they get pissed when you answer your cell.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘When I am on vacation, Amy, I am on vacation. There is nothing to do but sightsee and have sex.’

‘Also overrated.’

Sue looked at her. ‘Which?’

‘Both,’ Amy said. ‘Don’t look at me like that,’ she said narrowing her eyes.

Sue held up a hand. ‘I’m sure that we can agree to disagree.’

Amy scowled as her cell buzzed. ‘You doing anything this weekend?’

‘We’re going out for a trip on Kent’s boat. There will be a hamper of food and drink. He has quite a decent selection of wine.’

‘Urgh, you’re doing the hobby thing? That’s always a fucking disaster. Why do people even need hobbies? If you have time for a hobby then you aren’t working hard enough.’ Amy furiously typed a reply into her phone.

Sue rested her chin on her fist. ‘Have you ever considered what you will do when you retire?’

‘Die.’

‘Good to know that you’ve got a plan.’

Amy looked up. ‘You see each other at work. You go home and spend the night together. Now you’re going to spend the weekend doing either his terrible hobby or your terrible hobby. Human beings are not supposed to spend every minute together.’

‘You’re exaggerating,’ Sue said. ‘Wouldn’t you like to see your boyfriend for more than three minutes a week?’

‘No. Relationships are a ridiculous amount of effort as it is without spending more time on them.’ Amy rolled her eyes. ‘Men are worse than kids. They’re like attention addicts. The more you give them the more they want.’

Sue rolled her eyes. ‘You’re the only person I know that can make me feel like a hopeless romantic by comparison.’

‘Romance is for teenagers and people with too many cats.’

‘Another drink?’

‘Fuck yeah.’

 

 

In the morning, Sue sat watching with interest as Kent prepared a selection of dishes for lunch.

‘How was your workout?’ she asked.

‘Energetic.’ He didn’t look up as he sliced a German sausage. ‘I like to exercise early. It helps me wake up.’

‘Have I been interrupting your routine?’

Now he looked up. ‘I think it would be fairer to say that you have contributed to a greater variety within my regime.’

Sue took a sip of her coffee. ‘Nobody has ever referred to me as part of their exercise regime before.’

‘Perhaps I worded it badly.’

‘Only perhaps?’ Sue asked.

Kent smiled slightly. ‘You must admit we burn calories and increase our flexibility.’

Sue put down her coffee and pushed herself up onto the cupboard top. ‘Amy thinks we spend too much time together.’

‘You’re taking relationship advice from someone who has no idea how long she’s been dating. She probably doesn’t know his last name.’

‘That seems unnecessarily harsh.’

‘But accurate.’ Kent stopped what he was doing to take a sip of coffee. ‘Have I begun to weary you?’

His free hand was on the cupboard top and it was trembling.

Sue covered his hand with hers. ‘No.’

‘I’m aware that I’m neither a particularly dynamic nor stimulating partner.’ He wasn’t looking at her.

Sue kissed him gently. ‘Not true.’

Now he looked at her, frowning slightly, and with that slight flush in his cheeks she’d learnt to recognize.

‘I appreciate the effort, Sue, but there’s no need to humor me,’ he said quietly. ‘I am very aware both of my reputation and how I’m perceived.’

‘Yet you had no idea that Selina likes to stare at your ass.’

He laughed, and shook his head. ‘Lord help the country if she ever gets elected president.’

Sue took a sip of her coffee. ‘You’re doubtful.’

He put his hand on her knee. ‘It’s early days.’

‘But?’

‘But no, I don’t see her winning. She’s too reactive. She’s too bland. She’s tentative when she needs to be bold. The firmest impression most people have of her is that she’s rich and divorced. The first risk alienating the poor and the middle class and the second risks alienating the religious and the unhappily married.’

‘Oh.’ Sue shook her head. ‘You must regret joining her campaign.’

Kent’s eyes twinkled as he shook his head. ‘It has adequate compensation.’

‘Only adequate?’

He made a sweeping gesture that encompassed the apartment. ‘My idea of adequate compensation is extremely high.’

 

 

By the time that they had been on the water for two hours, FLOTUS had sent a dozen texts and called twice.

Sue looked out over the gleaming water. ‘Does she know you’re out here with me?’

‘I don’t remember,’ he said, sitting behind her. ‘It’s not really something I talk about.’

‘I wish other people didn’t.’

‘Hmm.’ He kissed the side of her face and slipped his hand onto her thigh. ‘Still annoyed about Selina?’

‘Yes. She may have no sense of discretion but I do.’

‘You do?’

‘We do,’ she corrected. She looked over her shoulder at him. ‘But me in particular.’

‘Ouch.’

‘It’s amazing Ray hasn’t been splashed all over the tabloid press.’ She turned to face him. ‘Why is that?’

He shrugged. ‘She’s single and middle-aged. Most of America doesn’t care. Not about that. The fat thing might get traction were it to come out.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘He used to be fat?’

‘Oh, so much better. Ben found it. Come down to the cabin and I’ll pretend to tell you all about it.’

 

 

The cabin swayed as Sue peeled off her clothes. ‘This must take co-ordination.’ she said.

‘It’s all about practice.’

She shrieked with laughter when he tipped her down onto the bed and pinned her down.

‘Like a waterbed,’ he said, burying his face in her neck.

‘This isn’t the seventies,’ she said, trying to sound severe as she wrapped her legs around his waist. ‘I have never slept in a water bed.’

‘I have. You don’t know what you’re missing.’

 

 

They had reached the part of the proceedings where Sue had her eyes tightly shut, and her fingers knotted in his hair, when his cell began to play FLOTUS’s ring tone. They ignored it. It went to voicemail.

It rang again. And again. And again.

Sue grabbed the cell.

‘Ma’am, are you dead, dying, or otherwise in dire straits?’ she asked.

‘What? Who is this-’

‘Ma’am is someone dead?’ Sue asked, swatting off his attempted grab for the phone.

‘No but-’

‘Is someone dying?’

‘I don’t think…’

Have we just declared war?’ Sue asked. She squirmed up into a seated position, tucking the phone between her ear and shoulder, and fended Kent off with a pillow.

‘Not as far as I-’

‘Then stop calling and let us fornicate in peace.’ Sue thumbed off the cell and threw it across the room.

‘Please tell me that wasn’t my mother,’ Kent asked.

‘It was Joanna Hughes and you know it.’

Kent shook his head. ‘You’re amazing. Terrifying, but amazing.’

‘I will thank you to remember that.’

 

 

One of the less obvious upsides to their relationship was that he didn’t snore. Sue had rather grown accustomed to sourcing ear plugs and the like but didn’t need them with Kent. He did tend to talk in his sleep, gibberish mostly, but that at least was quiet.

Sue left him napping in the bed. The boat was bigger than she’d been expecting. It had a tiny galley, she had done enough research to call it that, and a tiny living area with bookshelves, a television, a DVD player, and a small entertainment center. Sue hadn’t brought any extra clothes so she wrapped herself in his shirt, a soft blue plaid, and padded around barefoot.

A lot of his books were clearly quite old and worn. Paperbacks so well-thumbed the pages were yellow and the spines were flaking. She was shaking her head at the ridiculously lurid covers, none of which seem to resemble any of the story names, when she found a small leather-bound album. She held it in her hand. Viewed page-on, crinkled plastic sleeves bulging with snapshots, it couldn’t be anything else.

He said he didn’t have any photographs of himself, new or old. He’d resisted every request to see any that from another source. So, the proper thing to do would be to put the album back. The respectful thing would be to put it back but perhaps ask about it. Certainly there was no excuse for opening it.

Sue listened for any suggestion he might be waking but there was nothing. Nothing but the sound of water slapping the side of the boat.

She didn’t honestly think it was going to be anything much. He wouldn’t have the album there if there was anything in it inflammatory or incriminating. So she sat down and she opened it.

He walked into the room when she was perhaps three quarters of the way through it. She’d never seen that expression on his face before. She had no desire to see it again.

The argument, if such an impassive word was applicable, lasted about an hour. At which point she ripped off his shirt and threw it at him before storming into the bedroom to get dressed. She felt the vibrations of the engine change as the boat turned around. They sailed back with her in the cabin and he up top. When they got back to the harbor they didn’t speak, even when he helped her down. They went home separately.

 

 

Sue reflected that it had been a mistake telling Amy about the fight, and a bigger mistake letting the other woman talk her into going for a drink. They curled up in armchairs in the corner of the club and Sue tried not to scream.

‘What the fuck were you even arguing about?’

‘Everything. FLOTUS. My drinking. His secretiveness. My inquisitiveness. Stupid things.’

‘Well yeah arguments generally end up as all you can fucking eat buffets. But why were you yelling at each other in the first place?’

Sue ran her fingers through her hair. ‘He lied to me. Twice. Stupid lies.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know.’ Sue took a gulp of her cocktail. ‘He told me he didn’t have any photographs of himself and he told me that he didn’t have children.’

Amy noisily finished her drink. ‘Those are fucking idiotic things to lie about.’

‘I am aware of that. Especially ridiculous lies to tell if you then keep a photograph album showing you with your heavily pregnant girlfriend. He refused point blank to give me any kind of explanation. Just kept saying that he didn’t want to talk about it.’

‘Maybe she was just fat.’ Amy stood up. ‘Another drink?’

Sue held up her still half-full glass. ‘I’m good.’

Amy waved her hand. ‘You’re lagging behind, Wilson, step it up.’

 

 

They were back at Sue’s apartment, contemplating a delivery of the sort of food that people only eat when they are drunk, heartbroken, or both, when Sue’s cell rang. Amy reflexively checked her own.

It was Kent’s number.

‘Hello?’

‘Eh, is that the glorious Miss Wilson?’ asked a man’s, rather wavering voice.

Sue frowned. ‘Mr. Tucker?’ She exchanged a look with Amy and then answered the call, turning on the speakerphone.

‘Aye pet! That’s right. I wasn’t sure that you’d remember me.’

Sue sighed. ‘You are quite memorable. What do you want?’

‘Eh, I’m out the piss with your man and he’s para-fucking-lytic.’

Sue looked at Amy, who shrugged blankly.

‘Don’t get me wrong,’ Tucker continued, ‘he can put a shitload away, especially for a Yank. But I’m Scottish and no fucking American is drinking me under the fucking table.’

‘Can’t have met Ben,’ Amy said.

‘Ben fucking Caffrey? I bloody have met him. Lightweight. Metaphorically speaking,’ Tucker said. ‘Who the hell are you anyway?’

‘What do you want?’ Sue asked.

‘What? Oh. Aye. I don’t know where he lives now. Can you meet me there and we’ll pour him into his bed?’

Amy waved her hands. ‘I’m sorry, random Scottish man, are you claiming that Kent Davison is so drunk he can’t remember where he lives?’

Sue quickly muted the phone. ‘He sent me flowers the other day.’

‘I’m not claiming nothing, love. I’m telling you straight. He’s feeling crossed in fucking love and dealing with it in time honored fashion. Did you know he’s got nothing in his pockets but this phone, dollars and a set of keys? How the fuck am I supposed to get him home like that?’

‘I don’t like him. I don’t trust him,’ Amy said, poking her finger at the cell.

Sue unmuted the phone. ‘Do you have a pen? I’ll tell you the address. You can drop him off there.’

‘Are you not listening, pet? He wouldn’t know if a cart and horses ran over him. I don’t think he should be left alone. Can I not drop him off with you?’

‘I’m not telling you my address,’ Sue said firmly. ‘We’ll meet you at his apartment.’

‘We?’ Amy demanded.

Sue muted the phone again. ‘You want me to meet this creepy, possibly drunk, definitely obsessed with me man – by myself – late at night?’

‘Oh fuck me,’ Amy groaned.

 

 

They made it back to Kent’s apartment before Tucker arrived. Amy hunched her shoulders as she followed Sue inside.

‘This feels so fucking weird. It’s like sneaking into your parent’s bedroom when you’re a kid,’ Amy grumbled.

Sue gave her a look. ‘You have issues, Amy.’

‘I’m not the one dating the guy.’

‘No, you’re the one completely disgusted by the idea of other people having sex.’

Amy mooched across the room and looked up at the artwork on the walls. It was mostly of boats and the sea although there were a couple of landscapes as well. No portraits. She wandered over to the bookshelf. ‘Hey, is this the infamous photo album?’

‘It would appear to be,’ Sue said tightly. ‘You should put it back.’

‘Not like I want to look at photographs of the guy,’ Amy muttered. As she put the album back on the shelf a photograph slipped out and fluttered unseen to the floor.

‘Do you want a coffee?’ Sue asked, hanging up her coat.

‘How good is it?’

‘Good.’

‘Bring it on then,’ Amy said, snapping her fingers. ‘I deserve some recompense for getting dragged out here.’

Sue put her hand on her hip. ‘We could order that pizza.’

‘Is there a spare bedroom?’

‘Yes. I can lend you something to sleep in.’

Amy shuddered. ‘This is so fucking weird.’

 

 

Ten minutes later, when they were looking at menus online, Tucker knocked loudly on the door.

‘Any bugger in?’ he called.

Amy picked up a vase and swung it experimentally. Sue rolled her eyes and then opened the door.

‘Evening sexy,’ Tucker said cheerfully. ‘You letting us in or what?’

Sue stared at him. He was carrying a man over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift, all she could see was a pair of legs in a familiar pair of hand tailored trousers. She silently took two steps to the side and let him into the apartment.

‘Which way to the fun zone?’ Tucker asked.

‘Holy fuck, is that Kent?’ Amy asked, squinting. ‘Should he be in hospital?’

‘Hospital? Don’t be so wet, he’s just passed out. He’ll be right as rain tomorrow.’ Tucker swung around to follow Sue, making Kent’s arms swing.

Tucker followed Sue out and into the main bedroom and Amy followed them both.

‘I see you brought a chaperone with you,’ he said, looking back at Amy and winking.

‘I could say the same to you.’

Tucker sniggered and then carefully laid Kent down on the bed. He took off the other man’s shoes and put them on the rack in the corner. He waved a hand at the bed. ‘You’re on your own with the rest of his clothing. I’ve known the bugger a long time and I know him pretty fucking well but I draw the line and stripping him down to his underpants, all right?’

‘No fucking arguments there,’ Amy muttered.

‘Hey now, I’m sure she’s not exactly head over heels in lust with whatever callow youth you’ve got knocking your boots,’ Tucker retorted, straightening his jacket. ‘But if you ever get a yen for a bit of Angus steak instead of hamburger give me a call.’ He winked at Sue. ‘You too, hey, maybe we can have a three way!’

Sue raised her eyebrows. ‘Never gonna happen.’

‘Aye but a boy can dream.’

They followed him out of the bedroom and Sue watched him stoop to pick something up from the carpet. He frowned as he smoothed it out. Tucker shook his head as he stood it carefully on the mantelpiece. ‘Breaks your fucking heart. I saw the wee lad, you know, at the hospital. Had Charlie’s eyes. Dinae let either of them tell you they hate kids. That house was fucking full of toys and all that shite.’ Tucker shook his head as he turned back to them. ‘That’s the kind of thing makes me want to believe there’s a God, right? So you can track the fucker down and kick him in the goolies over and over.’

As Sue was shutting and locking the door behind him, Amy walked over to the mantelpiece.

Sue walked over. It was a photograph of a baby in an incubator.

‘So, we’re never, ever talking about this,’ Amy said quietly.

‘Absolutely not.’ Sue flipped through the album pages until she found the empty space and returned the snapshot to its home.

 

 

Sue woke up in an empty bed. That was rather disconcerting. He’d been completely unconscious when she’d wrangled him under the covers. Surely he couldn’t be up and about a mere five hours later?

She pulled on her gown and padded out into the living room, where she had her second surprise: Amy lay on the sofa under the comforter for the spare bed.

‘What are you doing out here?’

Amy glared at her. ‘I was finally getting some sleep until you woke me up.’

‘And I’m sure there is a good reason that you’re on the sofa and not the spare bed.’

‘Christ, I don’t know. Maybe because I have functioning ear drums?’ She rolled her eyes. ‘The noise like a donkey in labor being cut in half with a chainsaw?’

Sue shook her head and headed for the coffee machine. ‘You must have imagined it.’

‘I don’t have an imagination,’ Amy complained, following her. ‘You ask anyone.’

Sue stopped. Kent was in the kitchen, perfectly presentable, and pouring a bowl of cereal.

‘Oh, shit,’ Amy said, hiding behind Sue. ‘Did you just walk past me sleeping on your sofa?’

He avoided looking at Sue, she noticed. She noticed and shriveled a little inside.

‘Not just now,’ he said. He sounded a little gravelly but not much else. ‘About forty-five minutes ago when I went to the gym for a quick workout.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘Also, in the interests of your peace of mind, you are currently showing less leg than on any given day you’re wearing a skirt suit.’ He splashed milk down into the bowl. ‘Also, you and I have slept in close proximity before without any issue.’ He turned his attention to the coffee machine.

‘Hey that’s right. I’ve seen you sleeping and at no point did you sound like a hippo being slaughtered,’ Amy said.

He looked at her blankly.

‘I had to sleep on the sofa because of the fucking insane levels of snoring,’ Amy explained.

‘Oh.’ He scratched his ear. ‘You get used to it.’

Amy looked at Sue incredulously. ‘That horrendous noise was you. You need to go to a doctor. There is something horribly fucking wrong with you’

‘I do not snore,’ Sue said firmly.

Kent’s snort was unfairly eloquent.

 

 

It was awkward and it was unpleasant. Deeply unpleasant. Sue wasn’t sure if she was grateful or regretful that Amy was there. It certainly made it easier to pretend that he wasn’t avoiding her, and was definitely still very angry.

Which was unfair. She had perfectly legitimate reasons to be angry as well but she wasn’t sulking like a child. Not even when they all caught a cab to the Eisenhower building and he sat on the other side of Amy.

She was going to have to apologize wasn’t she? She didn’t _do_ apologizing. Oh, at work when necessary, but not in her private life. She was always confident in her own rightness and saw no reason to compromise or make excuses for being right. Well, she wasn’t exactly wrong. Not wrong. But she was hardly feeling the familiar warmth of being right.

If an apology was going to come anywhere close. She squeezed the bridge of her nose. It was an argument. Couples have arguments. It was normal. It was to be expected. It didn’t have to be the end. Generally she would wait to see if her partner would apologize, if not then she would cut her losses. Simple. Straightforward. The concept had never bothered her before. It ought not to bother her now. Yet it did.

The trip to England. That would be this week of all weeks. Sue stared at the mountain of items on her to-do list. Her head was whirling. She needed to concentrate. She needed to get her work done and then she could think about other things. Things that were less pressing at this point. Things that felt ridiculously pressing.

‘Sue! Jesus, what the fuck is wrong with you?’ Selina demanded.

Sue licked her lips. ‘I beg your pardon, Ma’am, could you say that again?’

‘I said make sure that Ray’s included in all the state functions.’ Selina leant forward in her chair and folded her arms on the desk. ‘I can’t believe I’m asking this but, uh, is everything okay? Just a yes or no. I don’t want details.’

Sue flicked her hair behind her ear. ‘Everything is fine, Ma’am.’

‘You’ve been spaced out all morning, which for you is really fucking weird. So, go sort it out, okay? Because I need you on the ball and I really need you to be a better liar than that.’

Sue managed a tight, small smile and nodded. ‘Yes Ma’am.’ She turned on her heel and managed to keep her head up as she walked out of Selina’s office. Humiliated by Selina, again. Sue’s tolerance for that was running extremely thin.

She carefully put her paperwork on her desk, ignored Gary’s babbling inanity, and took a deep breath. She was not looking forward to this at all. Nonetheless she was not a woman to procrastinate. She neatened her hair, straightened her clothes, and forced herself to walk to his office. Just as she was about to knock, the door opened and Ben shuffled out.

‘Oh, hey Sue,’ he said, running his fingers through his hair. ‘You’re not coming to London?’

‘No.’

‘Kinda figured you for an anglophile.’

‘I am,’ she admitted, ‘unfortunately the VP needs me to remain here to run the office.’

‘That’s a shame. Have you ever been to Paris? That’s a really romantic city.’

Sue folded her arms. ‘Ben, are you trying to prevent me from entering Mr. Davison’s office?’

‘Delay rather than prevent,’ he said with a shrug. ‘But my survival instinct is kicking in so I’m going to get the fuck out of your way.’

‘Thank you.’

She stepped past him and into the room. Kent was sat at his desk with his head down as he stared down at a sheaf of paper. He didn’t look up as she stepped into the room but his whole body tensed. When she shut the door he flinched.

‘Might be talk?’

‘About what?’

Sue walked over to his desk. ‘Kent, please look at me,’ she said quietly.

‘I hate this,’ he said, still staring down at the desk.

Sue touched his hand. It was trembling. ‘As do I.’

He sighed. ‘How did I end up at home last night?’

‘Malcolm Tucker called. He claimed not to know your address.’ Sue sat down opposite him.

Kent nodded. ‘And you and Amy were there because?’

‘Tucker claimed that you needed someone to stay with you. Amy came with me because he made me nervous.’

Kent glanced up, for a moment, and winced, before looking back at the table. ‘I sincerely doubt he would assault you.’

‘You’re not a woman, Kent. You don’t understand,’ Sue said, trying to keep her tone neutral.

‘Fair point.’

Sue took a deep breath. ‘A photograph dropped from your album.’

He sat back. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘Alright.’

Sue watched him glance at her. He looked hunted.

‘Alright?’ he repeated.

Sue put her hands on the table. ‘You’re not obliged to tell me anything.’

‘Then why were you so upset?’ He sounded genuinely bewildered.

At least he understood that she had been upset and not simply angry, a distinction plenty of former boyfriends had failed to make.

‘Because you lied to me and you kept secrets from me.’

Kent glanced at her again. ‘It wasn’t exactly a secret,’ he said quietly. ‘Not wanting to discuss something isn’t the same as keeping it secret.’

‘Agreed. But when you lie about it then it is impossible for me to tell the difference.’ Sue managed to catch his eye. ‘You know that dishonesty has been an issue for me in the past.’

He nodded. ‘In my defense, I would say that it was a factual distortion rather an emotional one. I don’t feel that I… I was never…’ he trailed off.

‘I don’t think that is a very useful distinction,’ she said.

‘Perhaps not.’ Kent started to worry at the edge of a piece of paper with his fingers. ‘I didn’t intend to deceive you.’

‘You consistently fail to tell me things.’

He stopped. ‘Such as?’

‘I had no idea you met Charlie at the hospital. I had no idea _I_ had met her. I don’t know why FLOTUS is constantly calling. I could go on,’ she said.

‘You didn’t ask.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘How often would you like me to ask if you have happened to have run into a former partner; daily, weekly, monthly?’

‘There’s no need to be sarcastic.’ His tone was even but he was annoyed enough to look her in the eye.

‘I dislike being shut out. You keep me at arm’s length,’ Sue said.

‘I keep you at arm’s length?’ he said incredulously. ‘You’re the most emotionally constipated person I’ve ever met.’ 

‘Is that imagery entirely necessary?’ she asked.

Kent shook his head. ‘You are not alone is feeling shut out.’

‘So we’re both hypocrites.’

He smiled thinly at that. ‘Hurrah for us.’

‘I hate that you’re going to London and I’m not,’ Sue said.

He blinked at her. ‘What?’

Sue shrugged. ‘Equivalence. I found out something about you. I’m revealing something about myself.’

He looked back down at his papers, but she noticed that a little of the tension had gone from his shoulders.

‘I’m not sure those are of equivalent value.’

‘No,’ she admitted. ‘But I am extremely embarrassed about it.’

‘Why?’ Kent asked. He sounded genuinely curious.

Now it was her turn to stare at the desk. ‘It has nothing to do with feeling professionally slighted.’

She could almost feel him thinking.

‘Which is more important, that it’s England or that I’m going and you’re not?’ he asked, carefully, as if sneaking up on a frightened horse.

‘The latter.’ She looked up.

He had the look of a man puzzling out something complex and dangerous. ‘Uh, and if you were going and I wasn’t would that... be better?’

‘No.’ It had been her intention to think about it, to be sure, but that didn’t happen. She saw him relax a fraction more.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘And that’s embarrassing?’

‘Admitting it is.’

Kent reached across the desk to touch the back of her fingers. ‘What you call an embarrassing admission other people might call a mix of charades and blind man’s bluff.’

Sue raised an eyebrow as she entwined her fingers with his. ‘You know who I am.’

‘I do.’


	12. Chapter 12

Sue was beginning to hate the word ‘London’. Organizing the trip was ridiculously stressful. Dealing with Selina on a combination sex/exercise endorphin rush each day was beyond aggravating. Watching Kent pack a suitcase made her want to throw it out the window.

‘Perhaps you could book a spa day?’ he suggested, snapping the elastic strap over his clothes.

‘What?’ she asked, gripping the stem of her wine glass.

He looked at her warily. ‘It might be advantageous if you considered a trip to the spa.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, I’ll have far too much to do.’

‘Sue, you generally have an entirely charming grace under pressure. I have seen you suffering from stress before and you weren’t this…’ he waved a hand, ‘you weren’t this, before.’

‘That was different.’ Sue took a sip of wine and looked away. She stiffened when he took the glass from her hand and put it down on the dresser. She hadn’t heard him cross the distance between them.

‘When you anticipate missing me it makes you grouchy,’ he said lightly.

She pulled his hands onto her waist. ‘I am not grouchy.’

‘Touchy. Irritable. Prickly. Cantankerous.’

‘Stop listing synonyms for grouchy,’ she scowled, and kissed him.

‘I suppose it’s a compliment really,’ he murmured as he reached around her to unzip her dress.

‘Imagine how complimentary I’ll be when you’re actually away.’ Sue wriggled out of her dress.

Kent shuddered but unbuttoned his shirt. ‘Will I at least have a warm welcome to look forward to when I return?’

Sue kicked off her shoes. ‘No promises.’

 

He got called to the West Wing at the last minute and so missed the flight on Airforce One. That made it worse, in a way. Because he then spent a few extra hours annoying her, and because it meant she could go to see him off at the airport. She hated that. Hated how stiff she felt when he embraced her. Hated having to go all the way back to the Eisenhower building alone.

She wasn’t happy that they had bickered before he left. They both knew it was nonsense. Her terrible mood all week finally fraying his temper. She couldn’t honestly hold him to blame for that. Well, she did, but she knew that was irrational. She was annoyed that he was in another country. She was annoyed that he had the ability to make her irrational. She was annoyed that it wasn’t even purposefully done. Most of all, she was annoyed that he took it, accurately, as a sign of affection.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be simple. Straightforward. No drama and no commitment. Instead they had keys to each other’s apartments, had both disagreements - alright fights - and make-up sex. And now she was severely annoyed by his being away for a few days.

Theoretically, that meant she had some free time. However she was extremely busy and, moreover, refused to be the sort of person who only contacted family and friends when temporarily on her own. Nonetheless she was quite pleased when her mother emailed and suggested meeting for dinner. They met at a nice Italian restaurant with no pretentions to anything but comfortable dining and good food. Mike had once recommended it. Regardless of his myriad failings he was generally a good judge of food.

Lenore had come alone. She was between gentlemen. The change in social mores that accepted women changing partners at the drop of a hat had been quite a boon. There are only so many times a woman can get married and divorced without running out of attractive hats and ugly attorneys.

‘It’s good to see you,’ she said, kissing Sue on the cheek as they sat down.

‘It’s good to be seen.’

‘You look tired and... puffy.’ Lenore narrowed her eyes meaningfully.

‘Allergies,’ Sue claimed, and waved for a waiter.

‘Where is your gentleman?’

‘In London.’

‘Kentucky?’ Lenore asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘England.’ Sue ordered their drinks and opened her menu.

‘Did he see you during your… allergy outbreak?’

Sue looked at her mother over her menu. ‘No.’

Lenore raised an eyebrow. ‘If he had-’

‘He didn’t,’ Sue interrupted. ‘I didn’t have my allergy attack until after I left him at the airport.’

‘Good.’ Lenore nodded. ‘How long is the vice president staying in London?’

‘Five days. In the middle of the campaign. The timing could not be worse.’

‘She won’t be talking about children again, I hope. Such a dull subject.’

Sue sipped her drink. ‘I believe not. There was too much opposition.’

‘Good. If people can’t afford children then they shouldn’t have them. Aren’t the poor burdened enough already without encouraging them to devote money and time to the tiny leeches?’

Sue rolled her eyes. ‘Sat right here, Mom.’

‘Don’t be silly. You stopped being a leech years ago.’ Lenore took the tiny umbrella out of her drink and set it down carefully. ‘You haven’t been tiny, or even small, in years. Don’t even start me on how you look recently.’

‘I see you’ve got fat.’

Lenore crossed her legs. ‘I’m old. I’m allowed to get fat. Old men prefer a woman with a figure.’

‘If the figure is a zero in your case,’ Sue suggested.

‘At least I can attract men my own age and not one old enough to be my father.’

Sue took another sip. ‘He isn’t, and all the men old enough to be your father are dead.’

‘I suppose it might be better to be an old man’s fancy than a young man’s folly,’ Lenore suggested.

‘Young men expect a maid. Older men appreciate a partner.’

Lenore snorted. ‘I have never been any man’s maid, and if you have then I disown you this moment.’

Sue shook her head. ‘It isn’t nice to tempt me to tell lies.’ She looked down as her cell beeped.

‘He’s probably texting that he’s met some beautiful English girl.’

‘That would be impressively speedy work as he landed fifteen minutes ago.’

‘I suppose you’ll be on London time tomorrow then,’ Lenore sniffed.

‘I will. It is the only way to ensure round the clock support.’

‘You mean she’s too stupid to realize she’s in a different time zone.’

Sue rapidly sent a reply to Kent’s ‘arrived safely’ text. Then she put her phone away.

‘I would never say that.’ She snapped the menu shut. ‘I feel like duck today.’

 

It was going to be difficult enough sleeping during what was technically the day. She knew this from past experience and had some blackout drapes and a sleeping mask. But, as she saw off Lenore’s cab outside the restaurant, it occurred to her that it was quite a while since she’d slept alone. That was all, nothing else. So there was nothing wrong or strange or inappropriate about going to Kent’s apartment and letting herself in.

It was an odd sensation, being alone in Kent’s apartment. It felt subtly transgressive. Sue carefully hung up her jacket and put her shoes on the rack by the door. Then she scrunched her toes in the thick pile of the carpet, feeling slightly ridiculous as she did. She went into the main bedroom and checked the laundry basket.

Empty.

He’d done all his laundry before he left. Of course he had. She shouldn’t have expected anything else. But he hadn’t changed the bedding. That would do. She took off a pillow case from his side of the bed and carefully wrapped it inside a clean plastic bag.

 

She was going through his book collection when someone knocked on the door. He had mostly science-fiction; Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Amy Thomson, and Larry Niven were the only names that she recognized. Sue put ‘The Color of Distance’ back on the shelf and padded across to the door. There was a heavy chain and a peephole. Sue used both.

Charlie. Wonderful.

Sue opened the door to the extent of the chain. ‘He’s not here,’ she said, and shut the door again.

That was oddly satisfying.

For about two seconds. Then she felt mildly embarrassed and opened the door, just as the other woman was turning away.

‘Oh, nice to see you again,’ Charlie said dryly.

‘Don’t make me regret changing my mind.’

‘Wouldn’t dream of it...’

Sue opened the door to let her in. ‘He really isn’t here.’

‘That’s unfortunate.’ Charlie tensed as she stepped into the apartment. ‘I was a little surprised he didn’t fly to England with the vice president. Thought my luck was in.’

‘He was delayed,’ Sue said. ‘He’s there now.’

‘Aww nuts!’ Charlie blew out her breath. ‘I really need to talk to him or Ben. You know, one of the grown-ups.’

‘They have these things now called telephones.’

Charlie smiled. ‘Sorry honey, that wasn’t aimed at you. More the three year-old she has running the campaign.’

‘Dan.’

‘That’s it,’ Charlie said, snapping her fingers. ‘Anyway, you’d be wary of all phones if you worked in security. You know, they’re about as private as yelling across the street.’

‘Would you like a coffee? I feel I’m going to need one.’

‘Oh, I would love one!’

Sue gestured to the kitchen and Charlie laughed lightly. ‘I get it. Mustn’t let me out of your sight,’ she said easily. ‘Very sensible I’m sure.’

In the kitchen, Sue started the coffee while Charlie sat down. She frowned as she looked the table.

‘What?’ Sue asked.

‘Honestly, and to my everlasting shame, I’m trying to remember if I’ve seen this table before or if it’s new.’ Charlie shrugged. ‘Sad I know.’

‘Ah. No idea.’ Sue made the coffee and sat down opposite the other woman. ‘What do you want?’

Charlie poured sugar into her coffee. ‘Well, here’s the thing, we look for information, and sometimes we find things that we weren’t looking for. Mostly we leave well enough alone if it isn’t a threat to national security. You following me?’

Sue crossed her legs. ‘You’ve found something and you want to tell “a grown-up” in Selina’s campaign about it. Why?’

The other woman shrugged. ‘Maybe I still feel a little mean about getting you all mixed up our little embassy fun.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘Continue to treat me like a fool and you can leave.’

‘We’d never make an operative out of you,’ Charlie said. ‘You just come right out with it don’t you?’

‘I wish you would.’

Charlie sighed. ‘Look, none of this was my idea. You think I want to give Kent yet another reason to get all tense and twitchy when my name comes up?’

‘Then why involve us?’

‘Because he has clearance,’ she said with a shrug. ‘He did some bits of contracting for the agency, math stuff that’s all I can say, it’s how we met. He’s not active, and he was never an operative, so he couldn’t be asked to do it, and anyway there was too much of a risk he’d say no.’ Charlie took a sip of her coffee. ‘You feel taken advantage of, well guess what, so do I.’

‘So this isn’t you cancelling credit cards and stranding him in the Deep South all over again?’ Sue asked tartly.

Charlie winced. ‘Heard about that, huh? I have no excuse apart from really not being in a state to think straight.’

‘Kent might have forgiven you but I’m not sure Amy will,’ Sue said dryly. ‘Amy Brookheimer? The vice president’s chief of staff and, coincidentally, the other person you stranded.’

‘Oh, my gosh!’ Charlie covered her mouth. ‘I had no idea that was the same woman. She must think I’m so awful. I’m so embarrassed.’

‘You’re certainly not her favorite person,’ Sue agreed.

‘She did get to spend an evening with Lucas,’ Charlie said wryly. ‘That’s no poor compensation.’

‘Kent said he was a psychopath.’

Charlie shrugged. ‘Oh most likely. But there’s no shortage of that in the family and Lucas is by far the most charming and, overall, probably the most socially adept. He can be perfectly delightful in short doses. I’m sure Kent made sure he knew to be on his best behavior.’

‘No shortage of psychopaths,’ Sue repeated.

Charlie shrugged gracefully. ‘Every family has something. My family has depression and stomach trouble. His has certain… social issues and what turned out to be a very rare and invariably fatal congenital heart defect.’ She stared into her coffee.

Sue awkwardly patted her hand.

‘Well aren’t you a sweetheart,’ Charlie said brightly, giving her hand a squeeze. She delicately dabbed her eyes with a tissue and then smiled at Sue. ‘What must you think of me? I didn’t come here to embarrass myself.’ She thought about it. ‘Well, I was also going to apologize so I suppose I was always going to embarrass myself a little bit.’

‘You said something about some information that you’d found,’ Sue prompted.

‘You’re absolutely right.’ Charlie took a DVD out of her purse and put it on the counter. ‘The vice president, enjoying a little bit of rest and relaxation. We weren’t looking for it and technically I have no business raising the issue.’

Sue had to think about it. ‘Sex tapes. You “accidentally” found sex tapes.’

‘Well, not me personally.’

‘You are quite sure it’s Selina?’

‘Mmm. You can see her face pretty clearly.’

Sue shuddered. Taking photographs seemed risky enough. Shooting film and storing it online seemed to be begging for disaster.

‘I know, doesn’t bear thinking about does it?’ Charlie winced. ‘They’re nothing illegal, obviously, but they’re also not exactly vanilla either. I’m sure you don’t want details.’

‘No.’ Sue squeezed the bridge of her nose. ‘Definitely an issue for the grown-ups.’

‘Those lucky boys.’ Charlie rolled her eyes. ‘Tell Ben, if you’d rather. I won’t be offended.’

‘Are you offended that I don’t find you threatening?’ Sue asked, taking a sip of coffee.

Charlie shrugged. ‘A little,’ she said with a small smile.

‘I dislike that you can still upset him to such a degree.’ Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘I reserve that right.’

Charlie laughed slightly. ‘You’re right not to be threatened by me. He fell out of love with me a long time ago.’ She brushed one of her curls behind her ear. ‘Good old fashioned guilt had him hang in there for quite a while. Now that was offensive.’

‘Did he have some reason to feel culpable?’

‘That’s an interesting question. You’re not Catholic I take it?’

‘No.’

Charlie stood up. ‘Can’t help who you fall in love with. Can’t help who you fall out of love with. Can’t help having faulty genes. Can’t help passing them on. He managed to blame himself for all of them. Isn’t that a man for you?’

‘Why would he feel guilty for falling in love?’

‘Catholic upbringing, honey, they never seem to quite shake it off.’

Sue took another sip of her coffee and brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. ‘What do you expect us to do about these sex tapes?’ she asked.

‘That’s up to them I guess. Work out who is responsible then y’all can grab up the phone and the laptop. Delete those copies. Online backups are trickier.’

‘Ah.’ Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘You present an issue which only you can potentially solve, but doing so is against your interests. Thereby putting you in a position of power by demanding we beg for your assistance.’

Charlie folded her arms. ‘You’re a cynical one aren’t you?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m not asking you to beg and the situation is not that simple. Things never are. But for what it’s worth, I’m telling you the truth. Every word.’

 

Sue was in a poor mood when she returned home. She wasn’t supposed to have to think about the political consequences of Selina’s terrible taste in men or general poor judgment in the bedroom. She would have texted, but that comment about the “security” of all phones had made her uneasy. She would text tomorrow, something vague enough not to trip alarms. She did and did not want to call. She did and did not want to hear his voice.

Sue walked into her bedroom and stared. The first thing she noticed was the leather-bound book, in a tissue-lined box, laying on her pillow. The second thing she noticed was that her pillow case was missing. The book was ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses’, a first edition of the English translation. It must have been costly. She should have been annoyed. Somehow she couldn’t quite manage it.

 

 

By the fourth day, the junior staffers and interns were staying as far away from Sue as possible. Good. It was all she could do not to tear strips off Dan when he called. And he called all the time. He was disintegrating, which was mildly annoying, because it meant Kent had been right in assessing him as not up to the job. She was in no mood for him to be right about anything. Ever.

She savaged Kent when he called to cancel the meeting with Prince Charles. It felt good. It felt deeply satisfying. For about ten seconds.

She called back automatically, but got the busy signal. Well. Good. What had she been thinking calling back? It was a shitty situation she had been placed in. It was completely unfair and totally unprofessional. But he was the messenger. It wouldn’t have been his decision. Selina and her damn impulsive decisions that everyone else had to live with.

Damn.  
She was still on the phone to the latest in a long line of assistants, equerries, and goodness knew what else, when people started cheering. Sue turned around to see Greta and Josh staggering under the weight of an enormous hamper bedecked with a union jack.

‘It’s for you, Miss Wilson,’ Greta huffed as they put it on her desk.

Sue handed the phone Greta. ‘Events dictate that the vice president cannot meet Prince Charles. Keep saying that until someone listens or they put the phone down.’

She looked at the neatly printed card.

_‘You’re grumpy when you miss me._  
 _Some British treats as compensation to all suffering._  
 _Home soon._  
 _K.’_

All the staff were watching hopefully. Sue opened the hamper and looked up at the expectant staff.

‘Fifteen minutes people. Any food remaining after that is coming home with me.’  
Just before she left to go to meet Airforce One, a text came through. It was marked as an unknown number, which should have meant it was automatically refused.

‘Saw the trainer got shit canned. Unsure if he was the source but went ahead and dealt with the matter we talked about. Online scrubbed clean. Have to leave the other stuff to the boys. A girl can only help so much.’

Sue stared at it. She texted back, ‘A girl has my sincere thanks.’ Perhaps she had misjudged. Possibly.

 

 

He was in an odd mood on the way to her apartment. Quiet and distracted. She assumed it was work. Leaving Dan behind in a hospital bed had been rash and rather cruel. However despicable he was, it still sat badly with her.

In the elevator, Kent pushed her against the wall and kissed her. He put one arm around her waist and held her tight, as if concerned she might wriggle away. His other hand cupped her face as he kissed her deeply. He didn’t say anything. Not even when the elevator stopped and he threw the suitcase along the corridor, before picking her up and carrying her.

‘What’s wrong?’ she asked as he shoved open the door.

He shook his head. ‘Later.’

‘Am I going to be angry?’

He was confused for a few seconds, then shook his head again. ‘It’s nothing like that.’

She let him pull her through to the bedroom, and fumble off her clothes, their clothes. He kept closing his eyes when he kissed her. Keep smelling her neck. It wasn’t exactly lust, although she had enough for both of them, and it wasn’t exactly desperation. He wanted to kiss and cuddle and fuck all at once. All without letting go her for a moment.

He pulled her down onto the bed and rolled on top of her. His hands were in her hair as he kissed her. Sue murmured softly as she rubbed his back. His hands slid down to her breasts and then her waist. His hands were firm. It was a claim, not a caress. His body was rigid with tension. He didn’t normally bring work home with him. Was never usually this demanding or intense.

It felt oddly vulnerable, both that he was baring something raw and wounded, and that he was so engrossed in it. Kent finally dropped his face, moving to her neck and then her shoulders. Sue stroked his hair, trying to soothe whatever fire was burning.

She wasn’t sure he’d respond if she spoke, or even if he’d hear her. It was a very primal anxiety, nothing to do with who he was or who she was. It was only that he was so much stronger than she was, and she wasn’t entirely sure he knew it. It made her shudder.

He looked up, surprised and concerned. She would have kissed him if he’d been in reach. Instead, she stroked his face.

‘A little concerned about you,’ she said. ‘Additionally, I can’t move my legs.’

He shifted down the bed, made sure none of his weight was on her, and turned his attention to her belly. She blinked when he bit her, so very gently. His fingers caressed her hips as he covered her stomach and then her thighs in deep, sucking bites.

‘Talk to me,’ Sue said softly, running her fingers through his hair.

He shook his head but pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers.

 

 

In the sleepy, warm, quiet afterwards, he rested his head on her shoulder and lay his hand on her stomach, fingers stroking round and round.

‘Why are you obsessed with my belly?’

‘It’s a mystery,’ he mumbled against her shoulder.

Sue stroked the back of his hand. ‘Not the best trip.’

‘Well… I terminated Ray. That was certainly a highlight.’

She smiled slightly. ‘First Jonah and now Ray. You fire all the best people.’

‘Not Dan. That was Selina.’

‘Disappointed?’ Sue asked.

He snorted. ‘I derive little pleasure from the process of terminating anyone.’

‘Not even Dan?’

‘I might have made an exception in his case.’

Sue kissed him, enjoying the brush of his beard against her skin. ‘Is now a better time for you to talk to me?’

He was silent long enough for her to think he wasn’t going to answer. ‘Joanna Hughes tried to kill herself.’

‘FLOTUS?’

He grunted assent. ‘She’s ill. Been for years. Got meds. Guess she stopped taking them. She does sometimes.’

Sue shifted position slightly so she could put her arms around him. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Bit better now.’

 

 

After they had slept, he cooked. Sue could cook of course, very well, but saw no reason if someone else was willing to do it.

‘What was the message about online file storage?’ he asked. ‘I couldn’t sufficiently decode it.’

‘My fault. Charlie made me rather suspicious of phones.’

He looked at her blankly.

‘Put the knife down and I’ll tell you.’


	13. Chapter 13

Ben looked like warmed over death. He was sat on Sue’s couch in casual clothes that he acted like he’d never seen before. Sue gave him an Irish coffee and went back into the bedroom to catch up on ‘House of Cards’ Let Kent and him argue over what to do next. She should have told him in the morning. But he would wonder why she had delayed.

 

After about forty-minutes, Kent stuck his head around the door. ‘Selina’s on her way.’

 

‘Here?’

 

‘Yes. Apologies.’ At least he had the grace to look embarrassed.

 

‘Why can’t you all meet at yours or Ben’s?’

 

He shrugged. ‘She’s going to be here in ten minutes.’

 

Sue wished she never let Charlie into the apartment.

 

 

 

It was strange and uncomfortable. The secret service men waited outside, which must given her neighbors much to talk about, while Selina stood in the living room. She looked as though she had never seen anything like it.

 

‘Look at you guys,’ she said nervously, ‘dressed like regular folks and everything. Kinda figured you two slept in your suits and Sue in a nice outfit.’

 

They looked at each other. Jeans and t-shirts on the men and Sue in a pair of linen shorts and a shirt. Hardly the bizarre costumes Selina seemed to think.

 

‘Ma’am, what we wear in bed isn’t the issue,’ Kent said.

 

‘What you wear on the other hand...’ Ben shrugged.

 

‘What the fuck does that mean?’ Selina threw herself down in Sue’s armchair. ‘Where are we anyway? Why are you here, Sue?’

 

‘This is my apartment, Ma’am,’ she said leaning against the wall while Ben and Kent crushed up on the sofa.

 

‘Oh, it’s oh, it’s nice.’

 

Ben sighed. ‘Look Ma’am, an extremely uncertain source claims that there are... unfortunate movies of you. Said person claims to have deleted the ones online but there may be others. She gave Sue a DVD but maybe there was some kind of photoshopping or that kind of technical shit.’

 

Kent shook his head. ‘Your antipathy to her is clouding your judgment.’ 

 

‘My judgment? I’m not the one who was fucking her,’ Ben retorted.

 

‘Wait, what?’ Selina asked. She looked at Sue. ‘What?’

 

‘Ma’am, the relevant issue is that the NSA found sex tapes of you,’ Sue said flatly. ‘Charlie brought a DVD of them.’

 

The color drained from Selina’s face. ‘Online?’

 

‘Not now. Charlie deleted them,’ Kent said.

 

‘So she claims,’ Ben said heavily.

 

Selina rubbed her forehead. ‘The NSA director woman? Why the fuck did she bring it _here_? I am so fucking confused right now.’

 

Ben looked at Kent. ‘This should be good.’

 

‘Ma’am, Charlie Gainsborough is Kent’s former partner,’ Sue said briskly. ‘While he was in London she came to his apartment with the disc intending to give it to him. I hope that answers everything.’

 

Selina squinted at Kent. ‘How the hell did you… You know what, I don’t want to know. She says she’s pulled the files from the file servers?’

 

‘So she told me,’ Sue said. ‘It was in a private Dropbox.’

 

Selina stood up. ‘Okay, well, good. Problem solved.’

 

‘No it’s not. If it’s true then someone still has the originals,’ Ben said. ‘They could just put them back again. Do you know who it was?’

 

Selina put her hands on her hips. ‘Sue, do you mind… uh…’

 

‘No problem, Ma’am. I will carry on with my television marathon,’ Sue said, catching Kent’s eye as she headed for the bedroom.

 

***

 

Weekend was far more of a relief then she was expecting. She woke in his bed, surprised to find herself spooned with Kent behind her and their legs entangled. It should have felt smothering, suffocating even. It didn’t.

 

They’d showered before bed and the sheets smelled of shampoo and the oil he used on his beard. When she closed her eyes she could smell the warmth of their skin. If she had been a different sort of person then she might have idly thought she would like to take this moment and press it in an album. But she wasn’t. That was sentimental. She was never sentimental.

 

She knew the moment he woke up because he tensed, and then relaxed.

 

‘Awake?’ he muttered.

 

‘No.’

 

‘Won’t want breakfast in bed then,’ he whispered into her ear. 

 

Sue pulled his arms around her more tightly. ‘You’re always making me food,’ she said. ‘Did you want to be a chef when you were a boy?’

 

‘No. When I was very young I wanted to be a psychiatrist. When I was a little older I wanted to be a statistician. Stop sniggering.’

 

‘A psychiatrist? How old were you?’

 

He flicked her hand with his fingers. ‘I was probably five or six.’

 

‘Why?’ Sue closed her eyes and tried to suppress her amusement. ‘What kind of a tiny child dreams of being a psychiatrist?’

 

Kent kissed the shell of her ear and then nipped her earlobe. ‘I wanted to know what made people tick. I could see what people did but I wanted to understand why. I wanted to know what made people think and feel and behave the way they do. Not just the levers but the meaning.’

 

‘That’s either very impressive or terribly sad,’ she said.

 

‘What did you want to be?’ he asked.

 

She thought about it. ‘When I was small I wanted to be a ringmaster.’

 

‘You got your wish.’

 

She nudged him with her elbow again. ‘Don’t.’

 

‘Don’t what? You’re the one who was laughing.’

 

‘I didn’t want to be the one jumping through hoops. I wanted to be the one who decided when and how other people would jump,’ she said.

 

Kent nuzzled the back of her neck. ‘Isn’t that what I said?’

 

Sue stroked his hip. ‘I think possibly I also liked the whip,’ she whispered.

 

‘Oh lord,’ he murmured, ‘what’re you trying to do to me?’

 

‘Or a riding crop.’

 

He moved his hand and slid his fingers up under her negligee. ‘Would you have those tight black trousers?’

 

‘I would have tight black shorts and tall boots that came up to my thighs.’

 

‘Are you a ringmaster or a burlesque dancer?’

 

She elbowed him in the ribs. ‘Pedantry is not helpful.’

 

‘Hmm. What would be helpful?’ he asked.

 

Sue tapped the spot where her neck met her shoulder. ‘Kiss me there.’ She closed her eyes as he did. ‘Now here.’ She stroked her finger along her shoulder, slowly enough for him to trail kisses along after.

 

One of his hands was under her negligee. His fingers caressed her hip, her thigh, and slid the silky material up to her waist.

 

‘Trim your sails,’ Sue said, lightly tapping his hand. ‘Slow and steady, sailor.’

 

‘Ah, long haul.’ 

 

‘Disappointed?’

 

‘Never,’ he murmured into her ear.

 

***

 

There were a lot of teenagers at the national zoo. Sue had been expecting children, certainly, but had rather come to the conclusion that most modern teenagers lived in a kind of near apocalyptic electronic landscape devoid of adult interactions, with the possible exception of meal times.

 

They were stood in front of the panda enclosure, surrounded by wide-eyed children, watching the pandas chewing at bamboo. Sue preferred the tigers although she supposed there was something to be said for ‘cute’. Well, on _some_ level there had to be or the preference for it wouldn’t have passed on from generation to generation.

 

Her hands were at her side and she smiled when she felt Kent play with her fingers, tickling her fingertips with his own. She glanced across at him. He was staring straight ahead with a slight frown on his face.

 

‘Have you heard of the panda curse?’ he asked.

 

‘Does it involved being so utterly inefficient that you eat bamboo despite being evolutionary designed to be carnivorous and, additionally, being so disinclined to have sex that you’re on the verge of extinction?’  

 

‘Since it includes Nixon, Heath, and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands I certainly hope not,’ he said.

 

Sue nudged him with her shoulder. ‘No good anecdotes involve Nixon.’ 

 

He stroked the palm of her hand with his fingertips, it gave her a pleasant shiver.

 

‘Would you like an ice cream?’ he asked.

 

She looked around. A few hundred yards away there was a small ice cream stand. The weather was warm and perhaps a little oppressive.

 

‘I would very much enjoy an ice cream, thank you.’

 

He kissed her cheek and strode away. Sue felt some warmth flush in her face, which was ridiculous. Really. They’d been dating a while now and she was certainly no schoolgirl to go blushing at the mildest sign of publicly displayed affection. She took a step back from the panda enclosure and turned around. The zoo had been her idea although she wasn’t entirely sure why. There was something pleasingly calming about animals. They had very realistic expectations about their lives, and that was certainly refreshing.

 

‘Sue! Super Suzy! Sexy Sue!’

 

Sue sighed and felt her shoulders slump as she turned again. Jonah. It would be. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and… was he wearing hot pants? He was. He was wearing tiny denim hot pants. Sue opened up her bag and found her sunglasses. Never mind the sun, seeing Jonah in those shorts was enough to send her blind.

 

‘What do you want, Jonah?’

 

‘Just coming to say, “hey”, so, you know. Hey. How’s it going? We’re going gangbusters over at team Maddox.’ He tucked his thumbs into his waist band. ‘You know, Selina’s going down, and if you need someone to put in a word with Maddox for you… this guy right here can do it.’

 

‘You’re his bag man.’

 

‘Am not! I…’ Jonah’s voice trailed away as a middle-aged woman came strolling towards them.

 

‘I’m sorry honey, am I interrupting something?’ she asked. ‘Is this one of your friends from work?’

 

‘No, geez, Mom, I told you to go look at the monkeys,’ Jonah whined.

 

Sue smiled slightly. ‘You came to the zoo with your mommy?’

 

‘Oh, he’s such a good boy, he does take care of me.’

 

‘I suppose you’re here with your daddy?’ Jonah retorted.

 

‘My father died when I was six,’ Sue said.

 

‘Oh you poor thing!’ Jonah’s mother said, putting her hand on Sue’s arm. ‘My first husband died when Jonah was twelve.’

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Sue saw Kent returning with the ice creams. He was frowning slightly as he skirted behind them and approached Sue from the side.

 

The color drained from Jonah’s face and he plucked at his mother’s sleeve. ‘Come on, Mom, we should get going.’

 

‘But, Jonah, I’ve only just met your friends.’

 

‘Good morning, Mr. Ryan,’ Kent said, standing next to Sue and handing her an ice cream.

 

Jonah nodded and his Adam’s apple bobbed furiously. ‘Um, hello, Sir.’

 

Kent gestured to Jonah’s mother. ‘Aren’t you going to introduce us?’

 

‘Oh, right. Right. Right. Uh.’ He turned from one to the other.

 

‘Men are introduced _to_ ladies,’ Kent said.

 

‘Oh uh, Mom, this is Mr. Davison. He’s the senior strategist at the White House.’ Jonah flapped his hands wildly.

 

‘Haven’t you mentioned a Mr. Davison before to me?’

 

Jonah’s eyes widened. ‘Uh, no. No, no, no. Definitely not.’

 

‘Nobody introduced me,’ Sue remarked, licking her ice cream.

 

Kent turned to watch her. ‘That’s appalling,’ he said, barely hiding the fact that he was staring at her tongue

 

Sue gave him a tiny smirk.

 

‘Oh dear,’ Jonah’s mother said.

 

‘What was your name?’ Kent asked.

 

‘Mary Popowitz,’ she said, helpfully.

 

‘Mrs. Popowitz, I would like to introduce you to Miss Sue Wilson. She is the administrative assistant to the vice president. Sue, Jonah’s mom.’ Kent looked at Jonah. ‘That is how it is done.’

 

 Jonah nodded. ‘Uh, yes, Sir.’

 

‘So were you in London at the same time as Jonah?’ Mary asked.

 

‘Yes.’

 

‘God, Mom, people don’t need your terrible attempts at conversation. Please stop talking.’

 

Kent put his hand on his hip. ‘Mr. Ryan you should consider yourself fortunate that you no longer work in the White House. That level of discourtesy to your mother is appalling.’

 

‘Well, this has been fun,’ Sue said in the sudden silence.

 

‘Oh, we should all –’ Mary began.

 

‘Sorry, gotta take this,’ Kent said looking at his cell. ‘FLOTUS.’

 

As he stepped away, Jonah lent closer to Sue. ‘Was that FLOTUS calling him, on a weekend?’

 

‘That’s what he said,’ Sue answered, wondering if her Saturday was about to be derailed with a hospital visit.

 

‘Does she do that a lot?’

 

‘All the time,’ Sue said, sounding more annoyed than she felt. Or than she thought that she felt.

 

‘That’s the President’s wife?’ Mary checked.

 

Jonah rolled his eyes. ‘Yeah, Mom, geez get with the program. Also, Mr. Davison is the man who fired me. So maybe not have a long conversation?’

 

‘You deserved to be fired,’ Sue said. ‘You flagrantly breeched your contract.’

 

‘Oh, did he?’

 

‘Yes.’

 

Mary nodded. ‘I did wonder.’

 

‘Yeah... well at least I’m not dating FLOTUS’s bit on the side Old Father Time there.’

 

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘It is no surprise that you cannot understand a man and a woman being friends.’

 

‘He was never very good at that,’ Mary said sadly.

 

‘Oh, now you’re just "friends"? Nobody’s gonna believe that,’ Jonah scoffed.

 

‘No, dear, she meant Mr. Davison and the first lady,’ Mary said helpfully. ‘Didn’t you?’

 

‘I did.’

 

‘You should both come to dinner next week,’ Mary said.

 

‘Mom!’

 

‘Oh hush, honey. Grown-ups talking. My brother is visiting. He’s in politics too.’

 

Sue was saved from a reply by Kent’s return. She was faintly amused to notice that he’d finished his ice cream. Evidently his call had been more about listening than speaking. She gave him a questioning look but he just shrugged.

 

‘We should go,’ Sue said.

 

‘Oh dear! Remember what I said about my brother, he’s visiting from New Hampshire!’

 

As they strolled away. Kent slid his arm around Sue’s waist. ‘What was that about?’ he asked.

 

‘She invited us to dinner with her brother the New Hampshire guy.’ Sue nudged him. ‘Do not even consider it.’

 

‘I wasn’t.’

 

‘Good.’

 

‘Although he does control a lot of votes.’

 

Sue looked at him. He looked very slightly sheepish as he shrugged.

 

‘I am not having dinner with Jonah. I am not having dinner with a normal,’ she said. ‘I am not Amy. There is a limit to what I will do for Selina and the campaign.’

 

‘Did you just call Jonah "normal"?’

 

‘I meant his mom.’

 

‘Ah.’

 

They were over by the big cat enclosure. By unspoken agreement they drifted over to the lions.

 

‘Do you have a favorite animal?’ Sue asked.

 

‘Favorite or one I most empathize with?’

 

Sue raised her eyebrows. ‘I meant favorite but empathize sounds much more interesting."

 

He snorted. I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.’

 

‘I have a better idea, let’s guess.’

 

‘Risky. Could get personal.’

 

Sue bumped his shoulder. ‘Trust me.’

 

‘Do I have a choice?’ Kent asked.

 

‘No.’

 

‘Go on then.’ He made a sweeping gesture that seemed to take in the entire zoo.

 

Sue thought about it. ‘Are we including insects?’

 

‘Definitely not.’

 

‘Why?’

 

He narrowed his eyes playfully. ‘Because you’ll say bee and I’ll sulk.’

 

‘I would certainly prefer to avoid sulking.’ Sue shook her head. ‘How did you know that?’

 

‘Psychic powers.’

 

She frowned at him. ‘I think you most empathize with a lion.’

 

‘Where did that come from?’

 

She shrugged. ‘Dignified and expected to be strong but also surrounded by powerful females.’

 

‘Lazy, relying on the lionesses to hunt, waiting to be displaced by a younger male. That is not a flattering comparison.’

 

Sue squeezed his arm. ‘I had not considered those factors.’

 

‘I hope not.’

 

‘So tell me.’

 

Kent turned around and leant back against the barrier. ‘My favorite I suppose would be a skunk.’

 

She stared at him. ‘You’re joking.’

 

‘No. When I was a kid there used to be a whole clan of them living nearby. They’re intelligent, almost fearless in the face of larger animals, and physically quite appealing.’

 

‘If you say so.’

 

‘I do.’ Kent looked at her. ‘I would guess that you claim to most relate to a lioness, but really it’s a hyena. Extremely efficient predators, strong, smart, matrilineal, with sexually dominant females.’

 

Sue laughed a little and glanced around, checking there were no children close enough to hear. ‘I feel some point is being made.’

 

They watched the lion slowly scanning the crowd: its huge head turning slowly.

 

‘Here’s one,’ he said, his hand finding hers, ‘cats or dogs?’

 

‘Fish.’

 

‘Fish are not an option,’ he said severely.

 

‘Cats then. Dogs are ridiculously high maintenance.’ Sue frowned as her cell rang.

 

‘Trouble?’

 

‘My mother, so probably not.’

 

 

 

Sue knew better than to believe that a dinner had been arranged for weeks and that her invitation had simply been mislaid. No. She’d foolishly gone to meet her mother for lunch looking puffy and now she was paying the price.

 

Kent was staring transfixed at the monkeys when she returned. ‘They remind me of politicians,’ he said.

 

Sue followed his gaze. ‘That one is throwing excreta.’

 

‘I call him Furlong.’

 

That made her smile. ‘You sound jaded.’

 

‘I need a vacation.’

 

‘You only just got back from England.’ It was annoying that she sounded annoyed. She hated it, both the irrationality and her lack of control.

 

Kent took her hand and held it between his. ‘That was not a vacation. That was work, plus jetlag, plus time difference, plus missing you.’

 

Sue looked at him; he was still watching the monkeys. ‘You missed me.’

 

He glanced at her. ‘What?’

 

‘You never said that you missed me.’ She watched him frown in apparent confusion.

 

‘I don’t tell you when I breathe but I assume you’re aware that I do.’

 

Sue shook her head. ‘Kent, you know that’s not the same.’

 

He shrugged. ‘You didn’t say it to me either.’

 

‘That’s different. You knew I was missing you. Don’t make me clarify, it’s embarrassing.’

 

He looked at her. Not a glance but a slow, searching look. ‘Okay.’

 

‘Okay?’

 

Kent shrugged. ‘I missed you. I missed your earth-shattering snoring and the way you’re constantly messing with my ties. I missed your smell and the sound of your voice. I missed you.’

 

‘Good.’ Sue squeezed his hand. She cleared her throat. ‘On an unrelated note, that was my mother who called.’

 

‘You said.’

 

‘Ah. She licked her lips. ‘She’s pretending that there’s a family meal arranged for this evening and someone simply forgot to tell me.’ Sue looked at him. ‘I’m sure she only arranged it this week.’

 

‘I don’t understand.’

 

She sighed. ‘I met her for lunch shortly after you flew to London. She noticed I looked puffy. I told her it was allergies.’ She paused. He looked completely blank. She was going to have to spell it out. She would really have preferred not to. ‘I had been crying. She knew that. Now she has organized a sudden family meal and is pretending it isn’t.’

 

Kent rubbed his face. ‘Is it an intervention?’

 

‘Basically, yes. With food.’

 

He folded his arms tightly across his chest. ‘Why? Do they think you’re...’ he paused and clearly rethought what he was about to say. ‘Do they think you’re on drugs?’

 

‘They think I have a new boyfriend and when he goes away for a few days it makes me cry,’ she said flatly.

 

He licked his lips. When he spoke his voice was soft. ‘That does sound alarmingly out of character.’

 

‘Shut up.’

 

‘Okay.’

 

Sue sighed. ‘You’re also invited.’

 

‘Your mom wants to meet me?’ he asked dubiously.

 

‘And my uncles and my aunts, and my stepsiblings.’

 

‘Is it a dinner party or a lynch mob?’ Kent said.

 

‘At this point it’s a dinner party.’

 

Her stomach dropped as he glanced away and his shoulders hunched.

 

‘I’m terrible socially,’ he said. ‘This could be disastrous.’

 

‘Practice will help,’ Sue said firmly.

 

‘I hate meeting new people.’

 

‘You meet new people all the time,’ Sue said. ‘What’s the problem? You would have dinner with Jonah’s family, _Jonah_ ’ _s_ , but not mine?’

 

Kent shook his head. ‘That’s not the same.’

 

‘Why?’ The wriggling and unease were annoying her more than his reluctance to go.

 

‘I don’t give a shit if I upset Jonah’s mother!’

 

She stared at him. He was instantly embarrassed by his outburst.

 

‘I don’t want to make a bad impression on your family,’ he said quietly. ‘I would hate my social ineptitude to ruin things.’

 

‘It won’t.’

 

‘It’s very easy to say that.’ He snorted. ‘You can always spot someone new at one of our family gatherings. They always look torn between amusement and horror.’

 

‘Your concern is noted.’ She kissed him. ‘Do it for me.’

 

‘On one condition.’ He noticed her expression. ‘Nothing like that.’

 

‘Good.’

 

‘Let me take you away next weekend. Fly down Friday night and come back Sunday evening,’ he said.

 

Sue shook her head. ‘No.’

 

‘You haven’t even asked where.’

 

‘All right, where?’

 

‘It’s a surprise,’ he said.

 

‘No. Absolutely not,’ she said. ‘Think of another condition.’

 

‘No. That’s it,’ he said. ‘All or nothing.’

 

She folded her arms. ‘I wouldn’t know what to pack.’

 

‘That’s a trifling issue and raising it is unworthy of you.’

 

She supposed she should meet him half way. He did seem to be dreading meeting her family. ‘If I hate it then I am coming straight back,’ she said.

 

‘If I hate your family can I come straight back?’ he asked.

 

‘No.’

 

‘What if they hate me?’

 

‘Still no,’ she said.

 

***

 

Caroline had brought her children. As they walked up to the door, Sue could see Joe and Kara jumping on the sofa in the living room.

 

Kent made a noise, partway between a growl and a groan. ‘Overexcited children.’

 

‘They’re always like that.’ Sue rapped on her door with her knuckles. She gave Kent a look. ‘Caroline believes that telling children what to do and imposing rules on them is “disrespectful to their personhood”.’

 

‘Children aren’t people,’ he said, ‘and I’m not convinced most adults are either.’

 

‘I certainly wouldn’t automatically assume either group deserved respect.’ The door opened a crack. Sue caught Kent’s eye and raised her eyebrows.

 

‘Give it up, Mom, we know you’re there,’ she said.

 

‘I don’t know what you mean, I’m sure,’ Lenore said, opening the door.

 

Sue sighed as she watched Lenore examine the two of them. Sue had changed into an orange sundress and strappy sandals while Kent was slightly more formal in a crisp black shirt, with three open buttons, and sharply pressed black trousers. Sue had long since given up worrying about what Lenore thought of her clothing choices. Her choice in men however remained a far more contentious issue.

 

‘Everyone else has been here for twenty minutes,’ Lenore said, standing aside.

 

‘Everyone else was told about this weeks ago,’ Sue retorted. ‘Isn’t that right?’

 

‘Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?’

 

Sue pushed a lock of hair back from her face. ‘Mother, this is my friend Kent Davison. Kent, this is my mother, Lenore Harris.’

 

‘What kind of name is Davison?’ Lenore asked as they stepped inside the house.

 

‘Irish,’ he said shortly, and was rewarded with a far too audible cluck of Lenore’s tongue. 

 

Sue was beginning to think she’d made a considerable tactical error.

 

 

 

Caroline was Sue’s younger stepsibling and she was by far the most annoying. If people would insist on behaving as living stereotypes then she wished they would stick to one and not mix and match. Parents who talked about the “personhood” of babies should not _simultaneously_ lecture other people on how they live their own lives. If Sue had one more sermon on how she was not fulfilling her potential, or how Sue marrying and having children she would make Lenore so very happy, then she thought she might commit murder. Sue didn’t generally care what Caroline did with her life. She generally wished that Caroline would do her the same courtesy.

 

Specifically, she wished that Caroline would stop staring at them as if they both had two heads. She was completely ignoring her children as they ran screaming around the sofa. Since they were remaining by the sofa, Sue had to assume that someone had already protested their rambunctiousness by sticking out a foot or otherwise applying discipline easily disguised as an accident. Sue would be the first to admit that forbearance was not a noticeably strong family trait.

 

‘Don’t you meet any men your own age?’ Caroline asked.

 

‘No, only boys,’ Sue replied. ‘Where’s your husband?’

 

‘Don’t change the subject,’ Caroline said, tightly folding her arms.  ‘How maybe times has he been married?’

 

‘Do I actually have to be present for this conversation?’ Kent asked.

 

 

 

It was something of a relief to actually sit down to dinner, although the relief didn’t last long.

 

‘So you’re divorced?’ Theo asked Kent.

 

‘No. Never married.’

 

‘Why not?’

 

Sue wondered if she could get away with kicking her stepbrother under the table.

 

Kent took a bite of food, chewed it slowly, and swallowed it before answering. ‘Nobody has ever said yes.’

 

There were a few sympathetic chuckles but no shortage of suspicious looks.

 

‘I’ve never been married either,’ Sue pointed out. As soon as she said she knew that it was a mistake.

 

Aunt Sophie, Lenore eldest sister, adjusted her hearing aid and leant forward. ‘Do people still get married?’ she asked Sue.

 

‘Some people,’ Sue said flatly, ‘and before you ask, we have not been dating long enough for anyone to be having any kind of conversation about marriage.’

 

‘He’s not getting any younger,’ Theo pointed out.

 

‘How old do you think I am?’ Kent asked.

 

Sue rubbed her forehead. She hadn’t expected things to go well but she hadn’t expected things to go quite this badly either. Of course she had to get the trifecta; older, senior at work, and white. When she tuned back into the conversation it was Caroline leading the charge.

 

‘So, do you want children?’ Caroline asked. ‘Sue is young enough to have plenty.’

 

Sue tried not to flinch and knew from her Aunt Sophie’s reaction that had only made it more obvious.

 

‘No,’ he said.

 

‘Don’t you like children?’ Caroline demanded, shaking her head.

 

‘No,’ he said, ‘but I dislike most adults.’

 

‘Kent is an equal opportunities misanthropist,’ Sue said, gently squeezing his hand.

 

‘I don’t like children and I still have them,’ Lenore said. ‘Why don’t you want them?’

 

Sue’s fingers tightened around her knife and fork. She was reluctant to even look at Kent. After dinner she was going to take her mother out into the kitchen and disown her. She heard him put down his cutlery and saw him fold his arms. Perhaps if she called a cab right now they could be at her apartment in under an hour.

 

‘Everyone, stop. This is supposed to be a dinner, not an inquisition,’ Sue said firmly.

 

Lenore scowled. ‘I beg your pardon, Susan, I wasn’t aware that expressing interest in my daughter’s suitor was considered so inappropriate.’

 

‘Grilling him this way certainly is.’ Sue pushed her plate away. ‘So, either you all back off or we’re leaving.’

 

Mark, Sue’s least favorite family member, biological or otherwise, sniggered. It was a sound that set Sue’s teeth on edge.

 

‘So you’re going to let her decide if you stay or go?’ he sneered.

 

Kent patted his mouth with a napkin and pushed his plate away. ‘Of course I am. Have you _met_ Sue?’

 

 

 

Lenore was on her third gin and tonic. Sue watched her tottering back from the drinks cabinet in the house and out into the garden where they were all gathered.

 

‘So how long is it going to take me to make this up to you?’ Sue asked, glancing across at Kent.

 

He looked at her over his glass of beer. ‘Forever.’

 

‘Or until I meet your family.’

 

‘You’ve met my family.’ He gestured with the glass. ‘It was not equal to this.’

 

Sue lent back against him. ‘Barely. I’ve only met your nephew and your great nephew. I have _heard_ all kinds of fascinating stories about your cousin. At minimum, I want to meet him, and I want to meet your mother.’

 

She felt him shaking his head.

 

‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘are you a masochist with no consideration for collateral damage or a sadist with a very high tolerance for personal discomfort?’

 

‘I have no tolerance for being so much in your debt.’ Sue turned around and kissed him. She felt his hands find her waist almost automatically. Her hand slid up around his neck by the same instinct. It felt natural.

 

‘Ew.’

 

Sue opened her eyes and pulled back a little. ‘Did you hear something?’

 

‘I believe that was your nephew,’ Kent said gravely.

 

Sue looked over her shoulder and looked down at Joe. ‘What do you want?’

 

‘Grandma wants you,’ Joe said, pointing at Lenore.

 

Kara had a Popsicle wedged in her cheek. She looked up at Kent with a jaundiced expression. ‘Are you Santa Claus?’

 

‘No.’

 

‘You have a beard,’ she accused.

 

Sue hid a smirk as she dropped her arms and stepped away.

 

‘Do I look jolly to you?’ Kent asked.

 

‘You look mean,’ Joe said.

 

Kent knelt down. ‘That’s because I _am_ mean,’ he said, looking Joe straight in the eye. ‘Every child that annoys me, I take away all their presents and turn all their candy to vegetables.’

 

They both stared at him in silence before Joe shrieked and ran off, with Kara trundling after. 

 

 Sue snickered as Kent stood up, brushing off his knees. ‘If I’d know you were going to do that I would got my phone out.’

 

‘To call child services?’

 

‘To record it for future generations.’

 


	14. Chapter 14

‘This feels a little ghoulish,’ Kent called as he buttoned up his shirt.

Sue checked her lipstick in the bathroom mirror. ‘Dan isn’t dead,’ she called back.

‘His career is in a critical condition.’

Sue walked back into her bedroom and watched him polishing his cufflinks on his sleeve. ‘Amy deserved the job,’ she said.

Kent turned to look at her. ‘Agreed. Nonetheless, he’s still receiving treatment.’

‘Again, not dead.’ Sue took the tie he was holding and shook her head. ‘Not this one.’

‘Why not that one?’

‘I don’t like it.’ Sue walked over to the chest of drawers. ‘Gray tie. White shirt. Gray suit. Broaden your horizons.’

Kent put his hands on his hips. ‘It’s the only one I brought.’

‘Not a problem.’ She opened the drawer and took out a heavy tangerine orange silk tie. ‘This one will look better.’

‘Did you buy that?’ he asked, obviously surprised.

‘I did.’

‘You don’t think it might be a little loud?’ he asked meekly.

She looked him in the eye as she put the tie around his neck. ‘No.’

‘I didn’t get you anything,’ he said touching her wrist.

Sue shook her head. ‘You haven’t forgotten anything. I just felt like buying it for you.’

 

 

‘Congratulations on the campaign manager job,’ Sue said, smoothing a napkin over her lap as they sat down in the restaurant.

‘Yes! Congratulations!’ Ed said, squeezing Amy’s hand. ‘I’m sure you’ll be amazing.’

Amy scowled at him and pulled her hand free. Then poured herself a glass of wine from the bottle and took a big gulp. ‘Of course I will, it should’ve been mine in the first place.’

‘Gracious as always,’ Sue said.

‘Grace can take a flying fuck.’ Amy checked her phone. ‘It can take charm and politeness with it.’

‘Hey, maybe we could celebrate by not having phones at the table,’ Ed suggested. ‘I’m kinda hoping we make it through tonight without having to abandon the whole meal this time.’

‘I’ll drink to that,’ Kent said.

Under the table, Sue put her hand on his knee and squeezed gently.

Ed reached for Amy’s phone and she yanked her hand away.

‘Touch my cell and lose a limb.’

‘Okay, I guess we won’t be doing that,’ Ed said, laughing nervously. ‘Uh, so, Sue. What’s happening with you?’

‘Sue is writing a book,’ Kent said, glancing up from his menu.

She blinked at him. She wasn’t aware of having mentioned it to him.

‘Jesus, you’re not really writing your memoirs are you?’ Amy asked, waving at the waiter for more drinks.

‘Ooh, you could write a thinly concealed true story. Like that uh, “Primary Colors” novel?’ Ed suggested.

Amy glared at him. ‘That is a horrific idea.’

‘Your dinner party could make an amusing chapter,’ Sue said, putting down her menu. ‘If rather a short one.’

‘Hey, I don’t see you hosting any dinner parties,’ Amy retorted.

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘I do not _do_ poorly thought out and ineptly performed social events intended to garner support for promotions.’

‘No, you just _do_ getting really drunk.’

‘At least I know how to relax,’ Sue said mildly.

Kent cleared his throat. ‘Ed, do you know what you’re going to order?’

Ed nodded quickly. ‘I think the lamb.’

‘Sorry, I guess I’m a little tenser than usual,’ Amy said. ‘We’re still besieged by the fat assholes of America claiming that we hate them.’

‘I wonder why,’ Sue murmured.

‘Hey, I have every sympathy for those people. Who doesn’t find food comforting? How many of us honestly haven’t ever sat down an eaten an entire bucket of ice cream?’ Amy asked.

There was a long pause.

‘What brand?’ Kent asked.

‘Is there where you tell us that you only eat Ben and Jerry?’ Ed asked, laughing weakly.

‘I don’t like ice cream,’ Sue admitted.

Kent sat back as the waiter brought the drinks. ‘I had a partner who swore by Baskin-Robbins.’

Amy and Ed stared at Sue.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘If I mentioned a former partner at a dinner party, Amy would kill me,’ Ed said.

Amy rolled her eyes. ‘Knock off the saintly act, Sue. You know you’d go nuclear on her if you could get away with it.’

‘No. I wouldn’t.’ Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘I have had the opportunity.’

Kent put his hand on her inner thigh. ‘I’m growing a little nervous.’

‘No need.’ Sue put down her menu. ‘You’re the one who gets jealous.’

‘Mm, that’s true.’

‘Really?’ Amy asked, scrunching up her face. ‘That’s just weird.’

‘Why weird?’ Kent asked. ‘Sue is considerably more attractive than I am, she’s younger than I am, and she’s significantly more outgoing. Logically she could replace me with a snap of her fingers. I on the other hand, would be extremely hard pressed.’

‘Is that what you think?’ Sue asked. She was dimly aware of Ed arguing that jealousy was innately illogical.

Kent looked at her and shrugged. ‘Certainly. I’m cognizant of the realities of the situation.’

‘I’m not sure you are,’ she said mildly, and crossed her legs, trapping his hand between her thighs.

‘So what about the crazy Scottish guy?’ Amy asked.

‘What?’ Kent asked. He sounded just very slightly strained.

‘I _knew_ you didn't fucking tell him! That creepy Scottish guy that sent Sue flowers turned around and asked us for a threesome,’ Amy said.

‘When was this?’ Ed asked.

‘Oh, you mean Malcolm? He talks like that to everyone,’ Kent said with a shrug. ‘He’s made explicit sexual suggestions to Ben about possible ways to alleviate his depression.’

‘What?’ Amy said. ‘Urgh. Never mind.’ She pointed her fork at Kent. ‘Doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Especially as he sent Sue flowers.’

‘I’m jealous, not possessive,’ Kent said. ‘My concern is what Sue does. Not the actions of a random third party.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘You didn’t say anything to him about the flowers?’

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘Said, no.’

‘You didn’t hit him did you?’ Ed asked, alarmed.

‘Quick, Sue, check if any of your shoes have been used as clubs,’ Amy said.

‘I told you that in _confidence_.’

Kent shook his head. ‘Malcolm and I have known each other a long time. He sent Sue flowers, so I sent his secretary a box of candies. They’re very close, platonically. It’s.... strange.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘You sent another woman candies.’

‘Uh...’

‘We’ll talk about this later,’ Sue said.

‘See what you did?’ Ed muttered to Amy.

 

 

They were having dessert when Amy’s cell rang and she stepped out.

‘Most debates are so stilted,’ Ed was saying. ‘I saw a great one a few years ago in San Francisco. The moderator was this local radio host, used to be a cop, and he really knew his stuff. Kept them from wandering off topic. He was hysterical too, very dry mostly but a great line in imitations.’

‘In San Francisco, was it at the university?’ Kent asked.

Ed sat back. ‘Hey, how’d ya know that?’

Kent patted his mouth clean. ‘That was my nephew, Jack. They broadcast the debate on his station.’

‘He should do politicians.’

‘They’d be idiots to agree,’ Kent said. ‘Plenty of them are. Their campaign managers aren’t. He hates politics. He hates politicians. Put him onstage with a couple of senators or congressmen and there would be bloodshed before the echoes died.’

‘Other than that, a great idea,’ Sue said. ‘You should have him interview Selina.’

Kent raised his eyebrows. ‘She’s been annoying you lately.’

‘I didn’t realize I was so transparent.’

‘I never know what Amy’s thinking,’ Ed said sadly.

‘I generally find her quite... comprehensible,’ Kent said.

Sue nodded. ‘A very clear communicator.’

‘But we never argue! That’s how in sync we are.’

Sue tried not to catch Kent’s eye. ‘Never?’

‘Not once!’

‘In over a year?’ she checked.

‘Sometimes it is indispensable to clear the air,’ Kent suggested. ‘If you don’t then the issues can fester and rot like gangrene on a veteran’s leg.’

‘We have to work on your similes,’ Sue said to him.

‘I don’t believe you fight,’ Ed said. ‘You’ve barely been going out any time at all and you’re really alike.’

Sue rolled her eyes. ‘In reverse or order, we’re not and we do. Although not often.’

‘I won the first one,’ Kent said.

Sue looked at him. ‘Oh?’

‘You took off your shirt,’ Kent said.

‘Sounds like a win to me,’ Ed laughed.

Sue slapped Kent’s free hand and fought to keep from smiling. ‘It was _your_ shirt I was wearing. Throwing it at you was symbolic.’

‘Oh. Something must have distracted me from the symbolism. Not sure what that could’ve been.’

‘Stop talking, Kent,’ Sue said.

‘Copy that.’

Amy staggered back over to the table. She was even paler than usual and was clutching her phone so tightly her fingers were blenched.

‘What’s wrong?’ Ed asked.

‘We have to go. We have to go right now,’ Amy said.

‘We’re in a restaurant! We can’t just walk out!’

Amy threw her card to Sue. ‘Okay, let’s go, see you tomorrow,’ she towed Ed out after her.

Sue looked at the credit card. ‘Want to go shopping?’

 

 

Sue, in a short negligee and a satin dressing gown, padded out of the main bedroom. As she walked over to the sofa, Kent paused the television. He had a bucket of popcorn and two beers on the coffee table.

‘You’re smiling,’ he said.

‘You’re cute,’ she said, sitting down next to him and picking up a beer. She sat back against him.

‘I am entirely confident that nobody has ever called me cute before,’ he said wrapping his arm around her.

‘Not even when you were a child?’

‘Mm, probably not. Youngest. Smallest. Always trailing behind being aggravating.’

Sue looked up at him. 'I have a great deal of trouble with that image.' 

'It is factual, nonetheless.' 

‘You’re the youngest?’ she asked.

‘Youngest Davison, yes.’

‘Why the distinction?’ Sue asked.

He took a sip of his beer. ‘My father was not a believer in conventional monogamous relationships.’

‘He slept around.’

‘Essentially.’

‘Half-siblings?’ Sue asked.

‘Yes, mostly younger.’ He gestured with his free hand. ‘We’re not close.’

Sue raised her eyebrows. ‘Mostly? How much screwing around did he do?’

‘Surely any is too much?’

‘Not my point. Step-siblings?’

‘Not to my knowledge,’ he said. ‘Have I met all of yours now?’

‘Yes, all four,’ she said. ‘My Mother has been married five times.’

Kent nodded and then nuzzled the side of her cheek. ‘You said. My mother never divorced.’

‘Did her experience put you off commitment?’

He leant back. ‘What makes you think I can’t commit?’

She shrugged. ‘It was a question. Not an accusation. You were having a child with Charlie but you didn’t marry her.’ She watched him grow tense. ‘It seems uncharacteristic.’

‘I asked her. Twice. The first time she gave me a speech about marriage being a form of property contract,’ he said, keeping, in her opinion, an admirably neutral expression.

‘And the second time?’

He grimaced slightly. ‘She accused me of only asking because she was pregnant.’

Sue gently nudged his shoulder with hers. ‘Were you?’

‘Not precisely. I thought she might have reconsidered.’

‘Marriage should be difficult and divorce simple,’ Sue said.

‘Float that one with Selina, I dare you.’

‘Not a vote winner?’ Sue swung her leg over his.

Kent pulled her onto his lap, making her squeal in surprise, and wrapped his arms around her waist. ‘I suspect not.’ He nibbled her ear. ‘What about you?’

‘What about me?’

‘Why haven’t you ever married?’

She shrugged, and tilted her head so he could nuzzle her neck. ‘Nobody ever asked me. What? That is not amusing. Stop laughing.’

His chest was rumbling against her back as he laughed, the physical sensation was pleasant. The emotional one was less so.

‘It’s the twenty-first century, Sue,’ he said. ‘You know full damn well you don’t have to wait for some man to ask you.’

Sue nudged him with her elbow. ‘That is not what I mean and you know it.’

‘Oh, I know what you mean,’ Kent said. He kissed her hair. ‘You wouldn’t ask because they could say no. Asking makes you vulnerable and that would never do.’

Sue turned her head so that she could meet his eyes. ‘No. It wouldn’t.’

There was a long, quiet moment where she could see him thinking. Probably thinking over what he was going say three times.

‘I understand,’ he said finally.

She smiled slightly. ‘I know you do.’

He squeezed her more tightly for a moment and kissed the back of her neck.

‘What’re you watching?’ Sue asked as he settled back against the sofa, pulling her back with him.

Kent grumbled a little to himself. ‘What do you want to watch?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. You’ve got your popcorn and your beer. Put your show back on.’

‘You’ll laugh,’ he muttered. He picked up the remote and pressed play.

Sue watched in curious silence for a few minutes before speaking. ‘Who killed that girl?’

‘A werewolf.’

‘Why?’

‘Well, either because she’s insane or because of some deep internalized misogyny,’ Kent said. ‘It’s not explicitly explained.’

Sue jiggled her foot. ‘The victim was insane?’ she asked.

‘No, the werewolf.’

‘The werewolf is a woman?’

‘A teenage girl.’

Sue’s cell chimed. She picked it up and scrolled through just as, on screen, a tall blond teenager and a shorter dark haired one sat in a dark stairwell, smoking cigarettes.

‘Are there any grownups in this show?’

‘Mm, yes. Lots. Is there a problem?’

Sue handed him the cell. ‘Amy is on her way. She’s frantic to talk to us, I don’t know why.’

‘Both of us,’ he said. ‘Odd.’ He squeezed her thigh. ‘I best get up and put on some more clothes.’

‘I like you in your PJ bottoms.’ Sue stole a handful of popcorn.

‘It’s not what I was thinking about,’ Kent said, padding toward the bedroom. ‘Amy doesn’t need to see my chest.’

‘Reason not the need.’

Kent stopped and looked back at her over his shoulder. ‘Shakespeare?’

‘King Lear.’

He gave her a look that made her smile slightly. ‘I wish Amy wasn’t on her way here.’

‘As do I.’

‘Don’t change,’ he said.

Sue shrugged. ‘I have no intention of it.’

‘Good.’

 

 

‘Oh my fucking God, what is this the playboy mansion?’ Amy asked.

‘It’s not a bunny suit, Amy,’ Sue said, stepping to let her in.

‘Kent isn’t swanning around in there like Hugh Hefner is he?’

‘No.’

‘Good,’ Amy said, walking into Kent’s apartment.

‘Hugh Hefner wears more clothes,’ Sue added.

Amy’s eyes widened in alarm.

‘She’s teasing,’ Kent said as he turned off the television. He was wearing loose jogging pants and a baggy gray t-shirt. Nothing, Sue was happy to note, that would take long to remove.

‘Are you fucking kidding me? This campaign is about to fucking disintegrate and you’re cracking wise?’

Sue gave Kent a look. He nodded and headed for the kitchen.

‘Sit down before you collapse,’ Sue said.

‘Where is he going? I need to talk to both of you!’

Sue sat down on the sofa. ‘He’s getting you a drink. Sit down. You’re hysterical.’

Amy scowled as she slumped onto the couch. ‘I am not hysterical. I am stressed. Insanely stressed and I don’t know what to fucking do. I spoke to Selina and she told me to sort it and not tell her how because she needed deniability.’

‘Is this the sex tape again?’ Kent asked as he walked out of the kitchen carrying a glass of milk.

‘You knew about the sex tape? Who else knows?’

‘Just Ben,’ Sue promised.

Amy looked at the glass. ‘Fucking milk? Do I look six years old?’

‘There’s a Valium in it,’ Kent said. He handed her the glass and sat next to Sue.

Amy knocked it back, and kept gulping until the glass was empty.

‘Danniwah,’ Sue said dryly.

Amy put the glass down. ‘Okay, so, Ray has offered the tapes to that pretentious New Hampshire asshole, Quincy Carter.’

‘Idiotic choice,’ Kent said. ‘Why not the “Enquirer”?’

Amy looked at him. ‘Because he’s Ray and a fucking moron. He managed to pick a reporter who’d rather use it to blackmail a family friendly story out of us than actually print it.’

Sue lay back against Kent. ‘Why are you here? Give him a story.’

‘I don’t have one! I need to make something up. You two are sneaky, you can help.’

Sue rubbed her forehead.

‘You need to get the originals and any copies of the videos as well,’ Kent said. ‘Or Ray will just find another reporter.’

‘What is it exactly you want us to do?’ Sue said.

‘I want you to help me fix it!’ Amy said. ‘I Machiavellied shit to get Ray canned and ended up with a media fuckstorm. I’d like this time for things not to end up with random people being fired and us losing huge points.’

 

 

Kent was sulking a little bit when they finally got into bed. Sue pulled his arms around her and kissed him.

‘That’s not fair,’ he muttered, not pulling away. ‘I’m still annoyed.’

‘It has to be you. I don’t have authority and Amy would get fired. You’re on the presidential staff so Selina can’t fire you.’

‘I’m not enthusiastic about that but it isn’t entirely the issue.’ He sat up in bed and folded his arms across his chest.

Sue sat up next to him. ‘You don’t have to come to Ray’s apartment.’

He looked at her. ‘I’ve done worse in the course of a workday.’

She raised her eyebrows. ‘I look forward to hearing those stories.’

Kent clasped his hands together on top of the covers and stared at them. ‘I’m not happy that we have to…’ He sighed.

Sue put her hand over his. When he looked at her she met his gaze. ‘This is nothing more than a way to ensure we don’t raise any suspicion of collusion. Dan, if nobody else, would be sure to suspect. If he did then he would do everything possible to find out the cause. He couldn’t be trusted.’

‘I fully grasp the reasoning.’

‘This isn’t some way to breakup with you by stages,’ Sue said, noting his flinch and that the conciliatory approach did not seem to be working.

‘I never said-’

‘Don’t argue, Kent, I know you thought it.’ Sue squeezed his hands. ‘If I thought your insecurity reflected on me I might be offended.’

‘I understand Amy’s motivations,’ he said, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. ‘Yours… yours are oblique to me.’

Sue licked her lips. ‘That’s nonsense.’

‘Let me elaborate,’ he said slowly. ‘We’ve dated long enough now for you to have gained a better grasp of my weaknesses as both a person and a partner.’ He glanced at her quickly. ‘You’re an intelligent and strong-minded woman, Sue. Therefore I struggle to comprehend why, given that expanded awareness of my flaws, you would continue to consider me worth your time and emotional investment.’

‘Kent, I say this as your friend as well as your girlfriend, you’re an idiot.’

He blinked at her. ‘Uh…’

‘Stop talking, it’s my turn now.’ She let go of his hand and crossed her arms. ‘You’re an idiot.’

‘You said that.’

‘It bears repeating.’ She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. ‘I’m here because I want to be here. If you need reassurance of my feelings, fine, but don’t insult us both by demeaning yourself.’

A little pink colored his cheeks. ‘That wasn’t my intention.’

Sue leant forward and kissed him. ‘I’m not going to gush.’

‘I know that,’ he murmured.

‘We’re only going to pretend.’

‘I know,’ he said again.

‘Do you feel better?’ she asked.

‘A bit.’ He played with her fingers. ‘I am not eager to begin the pretence.’

‘It’s only at work. It might be fun sneaking around,’ she suggested.

Kent pulled them both down under the covers. ‘The debate is next week, we don’t have time for fun.’

‘There is always time for fun.’ Sue slid her fingers into his hair. ‘You think I never make the first move.’

‘Random observation,’ he muttered as he moved in to kiss her.

‘Shut up, I’m about to be romantic.’

‘Perhaps we need a three minute warning.’

Sue pulled back and scowled at him. His eyes were twinkling. ‘Interrupt me again and you’re sleeping alone,’ she said. ‘There’s your warning.’

He held up his hands in mute apology.

Sue took a deep breath. ‘When the campaign is done, let’s move in together.’ The words came out fast. They crashed into each other ricocheting off in random directions. Damn herself for feeling nervous. Damn him for making this seem like a good idea. He was gazing at her now with an expression closer to thoughtfulness than anything else.

'What about work?' he asked.

'We wouldn't tell them.'

‘Move in here?’ he asked.

She had to take a deep breath. ‘Would you prefer somewhere else?’

‘No,’ Kent said. ‘Here is good.’ He brushed a stray hair from her face. ‘I’d like that very much.’

It was all she could do not to let out a sigh of relief. ‘Good.’

Kent pressed his mouth to her ear. ‘Wasn’t so bad was it?’


	15. Chapter 15

 

It was the waiting that she most disliked. Negotiating with Quincy took time. Finding out where Ray lived took time. Finding exactly the right flashpoint look time. Amy overcoming her distaste to ask Ray out on a date took time. 

Since they Sue and Kent had never officially ‘come out’ as a couple they had separate rooms at the hotel. Since the hotel staff were apparently incarnations of various trickster gods, the rooms of all four candidates, and their staffs, were completely intermingled. She was stuck between Jonah and Mike. Kent, who evidently scored a better class of room, if not neighbours, was next to Ericsson with Ben, Amy, and Furlong nearby.

They staged their first little spat as Selina was practicing her debate technique. Kent followed Sue out of the room and they bickered all the way into an unused storage room. He shut the door quietly behind them.

‘That was completely humiliating,’ he said.

Sue put her hands on her hips. Cold shoulders from now on.’

‘Agreed.’

She threaded her fingers through his belt loop and pulled him closer. ‘I’ll make it up to you.’

‘Please do.’

‘Put something on the floor, I don’t want to get my knees dirty.’ She saw him pause to parse the thought, and then become immediately more animated. It was rather adorable.

 

 

      

She grabbed a bite to eat with Amy, lowering their voice against busy ears.

‘Good one before,’ Amy said through a mouthful of pitta and humus.

‘Thank you.’

‘Almost had me convinced.’ Amy tore off another piece of pitta with her teeth. ‘You guys aren’t really having problems?’

‘No.’

‘You can tell me.’

‘When we have had issues I have told you,’ Sue pointed.

‘Good.’

‘Why good?’

Amy shrugged. ‘You’re my only couple friends. Who the fuck else are we going to go to dinner with?’

Sue thought about it. ‘Mike and Wendy?’ 

‘Urgh. No. Mike, no. I’m sure Wendy is perfectly nice for a reporter, but she’s a reporter. I don’t think they should be allowed to fraternise with Eisenhower or West Wing people.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘Do you suspect she might have cooties?’

‘Yes, gigantic fucking reporter cooties. Mike has loser cooties. Those fuckers are infectious.’

‘Maybe that’s what happened to Dan,’ Sue suggested.

Amy rolled her eyes. ‘Can you believe the hippy dippy bullshit?’

Sue took a bite of her salad. ‘You’re not concerned about him?’

Amy slurped a coffee. ‘Oh, no. He’s a big boy. Why, are you worried? The Brits released him, it’s not like he escaped. Oh, wait, let me guess. Kent is concerned. What the fuck is his damage with the mentally humpty dumptied? First his nutso ex, then FLOTUS, and now Dan.’

That gave Sue pause. ‘I hadn’t considered that before.’

‘You should,’ Amy said. ‘Because that is a pattern of… something.’

‘I don’t think Charlie was actually ill. Grief can be debilitating.’

Amy swallowed a mouthful of food. ‘The kid died and he dumped her? That is fucking cold.’

‘I don’t think so, not quite. She said he fell out of love with her but guilt propelled him to continue in the relationship.’ Sue shook her head. ‘Either way, she’s quite helpful now.

‘Getting rid of the hard copies and the hard drive would be been fucking amazingly helpful,’ Amy grumbled. ‘Guess her guilt didn’t quite stretch that far? She looked at Sue. ‘Assuming that it is guilt and she’s not still carrying a torch for the guy.’

That had occurred to me,’ Sue acknowledged. ‘But he hasn’t seen her since she came to see Selina and you saw him then.’

‘But she came to the hospital while you were passed out.’

‘I spoke to her,’ Sue said, ‘apparently, so I conscious at least. She said he was furious with her. In "daddy bear" mode as well.’

Amy squinted at her. ‘What, his oatmeal was too hot?’

‘Protective.’

‘Oh.’ Amy shook her head. ‘Nope, can’t make that fucking image play at _all._ ’

‘I’d like to.’

Amy finished her food. ‘Play Goldilocks in your own time, tonight is go for operation Death Ray.’

‘Doesn’t he live in D.C.? And what about someone who actually knows how to do this sort of thing?’

‘Don’t sweat it, Kent dug up some dodgy as hell pilot to take us in on the quiet. Nobody will ever know we were there.’

 

 

The pilot met them at the airfield. He was at least few years younger than Sue, with curly, collar-length hair, a muscular build, and a rather alarmingly strong family resemblance to Kent.

‘Jesus, he looks like Lucas,’ Amy muttered as they approached the small plane. She looked at Sue. ‘If he has a southern accent punch me the fuck out. I am not cheating on Ed with a kinky redneck.’

From the way Kent ears reddened, Sue was positive he had heard every word.

‘Jackson,’ he said, offering the younger man his hand. ‘Appreciate this.’

‘Eh, no problem. Remember it next time I need a lawyer,’ Jackson said with an easy shrug. ‘You know ones that wouldn’t look at me twice.’

It took Sue a moment to place his accent since his voice was slightly distorted by the gum he was chewing. Detroit? No, Chicago. Certainly not southern. She glanced at Amy who seemed only very marginally mollified.

‘So, who we got here?’ Jackson asked, looking over Amy and Sue as if working out the cost of their clothes.

‘Amy, Sue, and that’s all you need to know,’ Kent said. 

Jackson grinned and opened up the hatch. ‘Gee, ‘cos it’s not like I can identify you or nothing.’

‘That can hardly be helped.’ Kent raised an eyebrow.

Jackson helped Amy up onto the small stairway. ‘Well I’m sure we’ll all get to know each other real good by the end of our little expedition.’

‘Watch your hands,’ Kent said sharply.

Jackson gave what Sue could only describe as a wicked smirk. ‘You got it.’ 

 

 

Despite their misgivings the flight to the D.C. airfield was remarkably smooth.

‘I’ve never been in a plane this small,’ Amy muttered as they began to descend. 

‘Whose plane is it?’ Sue asked. 

Kent didn’t look up from the files he was reading. ‘Jackson’s.’ 

‘He can’t afford a shirt with sleeves but he can run a plane?’ Amy asked. 

‘I understand the shirt,’ Sue said, ‘it was the mention of lawyers that I wondered about.’

Kent snorted. ‘Getting arrested is an occupational hazard.’

‘Pilots get arrested a lot?’ Amy asked.

‘Ones who smuggle drugs do.’

Amy looked at Sue. ‘He’s joking, right?’

‘Best guess, no.’ Sue put away her notebook. ‘You wanted someone who would know how to do this. What did you expect?’

‘Him? He looks like he’s on his way to man a pride float! He’s going in the apartment with you?’

Kent looked up. ‘Your nerves are getting the best of you,’ he said ‘Calm down.’

‘Forgive me for not being thrilled I’m about to become an accessory.’

‘You’re not. You’re absolutely as criminally culpable as we are,’ he said.

‘That was not helpful,’ Sue observed.

Amy shook her head. ‘Have you done this before?’

Kent raised his eyebrows. ‘If I had would you expect me to admit it?’

‘No, but if you hadn’t I’m sure you’d say upfront,’ Amy said. She took a deep breath. ‘Okay, no big.’

‘All you have to do is go to dinner,’ Sue said. ‘We’re the ones on the hook.

 

 

They dropped Amy at the restaurant and drove the hire car around to Ray’s apartment building. Jackson had changed into a light gray t-shirt and ridiculously tight blue jeans.

He drummed his fingers on the car door as he watched the building.

‘Okay, it looks fairly quiet. I’ll go in the front you go round the back and I’ll let you in.’ He handed Sue an empty plastic bag. She looked at it.

‘I have no idea what this is for.’

Jackson grinned and fiercely shook his hair over his own bag.

‘Ah,’ said Kent. ‘Reduced risk of you leaving your hair at the scene.’ 

‘Not that I expect you to be on record,’ Jackson said to Sue as he tidied up his hair. He picked up the pizza from the seat. ‘Give me three minutes.’

Sue’s stomach rumbled as he walked away.

‘Sounds like someone was looking forward to the pizza,’ Kent said. He sounded grave but she could tell, even in the dark interior of the car, that he was amused.

‘Someone is absolutely starving.’

‘We can get something to eat before we fly back,’ he suggested.

‘Is it wise to be seen?’ she asked. ‘We are supposed to be out on the campaign.’

Kent shrugged. ‘We’ll hide in the apartment and send Jackson for takeout.’

‘Sounds good.’

 

 

 

Jackson whistled. Logically, Sue could understand the rationale that someone wandering around holding pizza and whistling would be immediately dismissed. That wasn’t how burglars behaved. She understood that. It was still annoying. It was annoying that she was having to stay close to him. It was annoying that Kent had been persuaded to stand lookout. The beard was too distinctive. Logical, yes. Annoying, hell yes.

Less annoying was the ease with which he broke into Ray’s apartment. That was more alarming, in a manner of speaking.

‘You do more than fly,’ Sue said.

He locked the door behind them and pulled of a pair of black leather gloves.

‘Oh, sure. Gotta have a well-rounded skill set,’ he said, waggling his eyebrows. ‘You got gloves?’

Sue took them out of her pocket and pulled them on. ‘How do we proceed?’

Jackson ducked his tongue. ‘Look for computers, DVDs, thumb drives, or anything he could be used for backups. Bring ‘em in here and fry ‘em.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘Fry them?’

‘Why steal them if we don’t gotta? We just end up with a lot of electronics we gotta get dump. When you find them remember when you got ‘em from. We’ll put them back and maybe he won’t notice. Kent said he was a moron.’

Sue nodded. ‘Ray is extremely stupid.’

 

 

Ray had an astonishing amount of pornography. She wondered if Jackson had suspected that when he’d suggested she search the bedroom. He seemed the sort of person who would find that amusing.

‘How you doin’ in there?’ he asked, sprawling across the doorway.

Sue, sat crossed-legged on the floor, held up handfuls of DVDs. ‘Pornography,’ she said.

‘Gee, I’m kinda busy right now but maybe later?’

Sue looked at him. He sniggered.

‘What did you expect from a guy who makes sex tapes?’ he asked. ‘Hell, you probably hit the mother lode. Bring them all through.’

‘All?’

Jackson shrugged. ‘It’s easier than checking every box to see if he mixed them up. Plus maybe it’ll help out some other ladies made the mistake of sleeping with this asshole.’

Sue had to concede it was a compelling argument.

"Frying" Ray’s DVDs, laptop, and hard drives comprised of piling them in a circle and waving some kind of emitter over them.

‘Is that it?’

‘It was the only one Kimmi could borrow from the lab.’ He looked at her. ‘She’s a physicist. I dig smart chicks.’

That made her smile. ‘What did you tell her it was for?’

‘She never asks. Better not to know, you know?’ Jackson put the emitter away. ‘Time to tidy up.’

‘So, you’re not a nephew. What relationship are you to Kent?’

Jackson gathered up handfuls of DVDs. ‘How’d you figure not a nephew then?’

‘Your accent. His sisters all live in Ohio, apart from Anne who had two sons. Neither of them called Jackson.’ She followed him to the bedroom and they tried to recreate Ray’s haphazard stacks.

‘Yeah? I never met ‘em. I’m one of the dirty little secrets nobody on Kent’s side will admit exists.’ His tone was surprisingly light but Sue knew better than too assume he was quite so docile about it.

‘I haven’t met them yet other.’

Jackson pushed his hair back off his face. ‘We got the same dad. Different moms. He was real old. Didn’t look after himself. Died when I was a kid.’ He gave a blatantly false smile. ‘That’s me. Let’s blow this porn palace, yeah.’

Sue’s cell chimed. She pursed her lips. ‘It’s Kent, he says Ray just returned.’

‘What the fuck? Thanks a bunch blondie.’ Jackson grabbed her hand and they ran for the door. He swiped at the handle with a handkerchief as they pulled it behind them.

‘It’s not locked!’

‘We don’t got time for that.’ He pulled her into an alcove along the corridor. ‘He know what you look like?’ he whispered. They could hear Ray talking on his phone.

‘Jackson, what if he has copies of the files on his phone?’

‘Does he know what you look like?’ Jackson asked insistently.

‘Probably.’

He squeezed the bridge of his nose. ‘‘Kay, follow my lead.’

She almost punched him when he kissed her. If she hadn’t heard Ray’s voice then she would have. She heard Ray stop, and snigger.

‘Hit me and run off crying,’ Jackson mutter. ‘A slap’d...’

The punch sent him reeling backwards. As she ran, keeping her head down, she heard a thump, Ray curse, and the pleasing crunching of expensive technology.

Jackson caught up with her in the lobby.

‘Did you just run down three flights of stairs?’ she asked as they slipped outside.

‘Yeah. What the fuck did you punch me for?’ He was nursing his shoulder. ‘Who hits a person in the shoulder?’

‘In reverse order, I do, because I have learnt the likely consequences of punching someone in the face.’ she scanned the street anxiously before crossing over to the rental. ‘Secondly, better me than Kent.’

Jackson stopped abruptly. ‘What?’

Sue rolled her eyes. ‘We’re together. He will _not_ appreciate you kissing me, irrespective of the apparent necessity.

Jackson shuffled his feet. ‘No. Fuck. He’s already the only family I got who’s talking to me.’ 

Sue patted his uninjured shoulder. ‘Let me deal with it.’

‘Thanks.’ 

‘What happened to Amy?’ Sue asked as they climbed into the car. She sat in the back next to Kent.

‘She thought she was spotted by some political correspondent,’ Kent said, ‘so she ducked out. Unfortunately she left her cell in the restaurant and had to go back.’ 

‘Feel free to tell her from me that she’s a terrible accomplice,’ Jackson said, starting the car.

‘Ray saw Jackson,’ Sue said. ‘He almost saw me.’

Kent rubbed his forehead. ‘I don’t see the laptop?’

‘We wiped ‘em and we put them back,’ Jackson said, spinning the car around a corner. ‘Dude won’t even know what happened until he comes to use ‘em.’

Kent looked at Sue. She nodded.

 

 

It was distinctly peculiar to be sneaking into Sue’s apartment, although she was glad of the opportunity to check her fish as well as collect her mail.

‘Everybody in this city got such titchy apartments?’ Jackson asked, sauntering into the living room and glancing around curiously.

‘All major cities everywhere have people crushed into smaller and smaller spaces until they’re not only sharing the same ground but breathing the same air. It gets to the point where we’re almost sharing our heat when we pass in the street. The only variety is in the magnitude,’ Kent said. 

‘That a long way round of telling me I should see Tokyo or similar on account of it being worse?’ Jackson asked.

‘More or less. Coffee?’

Sue took her file of takeout menus and sat on the couch while Kent wandered into the kitchen to make the drinks.

‘Got him well-trained, huh?’ Jackson asked as he perched on the very edge of a chair.

‘I’m starving. I would have given that pizza a good home.’

‘Sorry ‘bout that, had to use it to persuade someone to let me into the apartment block. People think they’re tricking you outta something they get a lot less cautious about letting you in.’

Sue heard a rhythmic jingle. When she glanced up she saw that he was nervously jiggling his leg and rattling the keys in his pocket.

‘Is there some reason this is making you so nervous?’

‘I’ll be happier when blondie gets here is all.’

‘Why did you agree to it?’ Sue asked.

‘Money.’ He grinned. ‘Boredom. I’m trying to be a good boy but it gets dull.’ He jerked his thumb in Kent’s direction. ‘’Cos he asked. Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry. Pick a flavor.’

Sue snorted and looked back at the menu. ‘Do you know Lucas?’

‘Urgh! Easy, lady, I’m superstitious. Don’t be calling up that kind of bad luck.’

She looked at him. ‘You’re quite the drama queen aren’t you?’

‘You’re quite an ice queen but you don’t hear me passing comment on it,’ Jackson, ‘save that one. Why’re you asking about that good ol’ boy?’

‘Curiosity. I’ve heard some interesting stories.’

Jackson snorted. ‘Oh yeah? From ladies I take it. Bet you didn’t hear how most of the serious criminals down there don’t even make it to trial. That place is deadly.’

‘What’s that?’ Kent asked, walking back with a tray of coffees.

‘Trinity,’ Jackson said. ‘Hell, the whole county.’

‘However the scenery is beautiful,’ Kent said, sitting down next to Sue.

Jackson snickered. ‘One way of putting it.’

‘You know full well I was referring to the woodlands and the beaches,’ Kent said severely. ‘I wasn’t referring to her.’

‘Her who?’

Kent and Jackson exchanged a look.

‘The sublime Miss C,’ Jackson said. ‘Never call her Lucas’s girlfriend, that don’t fly with either of them. She is a sight to behold. Not that I’d ever have a shot. She likes her men prestigious or powerful.’ Jackson smiled sweetly. ‘Figure you might be in with a chance, Kent. You should go see her while they’re on the outs.’

Kent practically harrumphed, which Sue found ridiculously endearing.

‘As we all know there’s nothing remotely disturbing about you suggesting I make a pass at a woman I’ve known since she was a teenager,’ Kent retorted. ‘Let alone one who has a long-term relationship with a family member. 

‘You’re more prudish then I realized,’ Sue said. It was a minor surprise, perhaps stranger, weirder, that it should have been.

‘Adorable isn’t he?’ Jackson asked a grinned.

‘You can both...’ Kent caught himself. ‘Jackson, you can shut up.’

He stopped himself from light-heartedly telling her to shut up. He hadn’t even rephrased but instead abandoned the thought entirely. It was interesting and a tiny bit embarrassing. She was rather relieved when someone knocked on the door.

‘If that’s Blondie, tell her I’m blackballing her. No more burglarizing with her,’ Jackson said as Sue strolled to the door.

‘She will doubtless be crushed,’ Kent said.

 

 

The flight back felt distinctly anti-climactic. It felt as if the problem should be solved but of course now they had to sell Quincy on the alternative story. Sue was not looking forward to that, although she had volunteered to be the one to launch the second offensive. Kent hadn’t been sure how much of a push Selina would need to start slandering contributors, but Amy was definite. By this stage in the campaign all it would take was an opening.          

‘It hasn’t even happened yet and I’m sick of hearing about this debate,’ Sue said. She had snuck into Kent’s hotel room and was sat on his bed, watching him dress.

He checked his watch. ‘It’ll be over in three hours.’

‘Barring the endless post-mortem.’

‘You won’t be there for that.’ He bent down to kiss her. ‘You’ll be here, I hope.’

Sue scooted up the bed and tapped the wall. ‘These are thin. I’m sure I heard someone sneeze.’

Kent rested his hands on his hips. ‘We’ll have to be quiet.’

'That is always my intention. I have never yet achieved it.’ 

His mouth twitched. ‘Perhaps you lack sufficient motivation, Miss Wilson.’ 

‘Perhaps I need a strong hand,’ Mr. Davison.’ 

He made a tiny little noise at the back of his throat. ‘I have to go.’ 

‘I know.’

‘I have to go see Selina, and Ben, and everyone else.’

‘I know,’ Sue said.

‘Why would you say something like that to me when I have to go?’ he asked.

‘You’re cute when you’re frustrated.’


	16. Chapter 16

 

 

Sue didn’t watch the debate, it wasn’t necessary, and she wasn’t terribly interested. Policies weren’t her domain. She’d know the rough outline soon enough, one way or another. Far better to spend her time on something more worthwhile, like relaxing in the bath.

 

Her room didn’t have a bath, only a shower. Another perk of his seniority. She could very easily get used to those. If they were going to stick to Amy’s plan then she would have to do without certain comforts although she had no intention of strict abstinence. Sue was not about to martyr her relationship on the altar of Selina’s political ambitions.

 

Sue turned on the hot water tap with her toe before pouring another generous dollop of bubble bath into the churning water. It was an indulgence, certainly, and a rather cliché one at that. In the absence of a full spa she was determined to relax as well as she could. She had been working very hard and she deserved it. Admittedly, the trip to D.C the other day had been rather exciting, but then she supposed that nearly being hit by a car would also be exciting in its own way. It was rather amusing how relaxed Jackson had been during the burglary and how nervous he was with Kent afterwards. Even Amy had noticed.

 

Kent had not been amused when she’d explained the issue. He’d gone very quiet and had folded his arms very tightly across his chest. Sweet talking him was a new experience. She’d been careful to emphasize the necessity over any allocation of blame. She had no desire to cause any kind of a rift, particularly when the offense had been largely ignorant. Kent didn’t sulk but he was quiet and he’d gone out for a long walk to "clear his head", but when he came back he was affectionate. Overall, she was relatively happy with how they’d handled it. They were mature adults. Ridiculous fights over petty concerns weren’t necessary and they didn’t have them. They just had to convince everyone else that they did.

 

She wasn’t doing it for Selina, except perhaps that she was rather relishing causing the other woman some well-deserved embarrassment. She was doing it for Amy, primarily, and to an extent to help Kent. Fixing it somehow came under his purview and there was no way he could do it without her. She rather liked that.

 

She heard a cheer from Ericsson’s room. That didn’t sound good. Surely the baseball coach couldn’t have done well enough to justify cheering? She heard the door to the hotel room open, and then the door to the bathroom. Kent stood in the doorway; his tie was loose, his jacket was off, and several of his buttons were undone. There was something wonderfully rakish about it.

‘Hello handsome,’ she said warmly.

‘Water is assuredly your natural medium.’ He walked over and sat on the edge of the bath. ‘I’m tempted to sit here and pop each of your bubbles, one by one.’

 

 

In the bedroom they resorted to hushed voices. The sounds of celebration from the next room were alarmingly clear.

‘You’d think they’d won the election,’ Kent said.

They were naked inside the hotel issue robes, and lounging back against the pillows. Sue had put the television on, but they were watching half-heartedly.

‘Perhaps it’ll make them over-confident.’ Sue suggested. She measured her hand against his.

‘They weren’t lacking in that. What’re you doing?’

‘Seeing how much bigger your hand is than mine. You have smaller hands and feet than your height would suggest.’

Kent looked at her suspiciously. ‘Why does this sound like a preliminary to crushing my ego?’

‘Because you’re paranoid. There is no correlation between the size of a man’s hands or feet and any other extremities.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘As can clearly be observed in this very room.’

He pressed the palm of his hand against hers and wiggled his fingers. ‘Nobody ever claims anything similar about women.’

Sue shrugged. ‘It’s relatively difficult to disguise the size of breasts the way you can disguise a man’s pride and joy. Breasts would make even less sense.’

‘Why?’

‘Because the proportions aren’t fixed.’ She gave him a look. ‘If putting on weight increased the size of a man’s penis then the subsequent obesity crisis would have wiped out the nation a hundred years ago.’

Kent brought her hand up to his mouth. ‘Then why aren’t most women the size of trucks?’

‘We don’t obsess about breast size quite to the extent men do about their manhood, and most of us aren’t willing to pile on twenty pounds to go up a cup size. Particularly not when plastic surgery is viable.’

He was nibbling the web of skin between her index finger and thumb. ‘Surgery is preferable to a little weight gain. Got it.’

‘It’s not a little.’ Sue scanned his face: he had very few lines although she could see that his features had become more sharply defined than say, Jackson, or even Jerry. ‘When did you go gray?’

That surprised him and he had to think. ‘Properly gray in my forties. Completely gray by forty-five. I started in my early thirties. Had gray temples for years. I dyed it for a few years. Gave up when there was more gray than anything else.’

‘It makes you appear a little older than you are.’

He smiled slightly. ‘Is this interest in my grooming part of your possessiveness or something new?’

‘It’s a part of it. You’re a handsome man but you seem to go out of your way to appear non-descript,’ she said.

‘I dislike attracting attention, even supposedly positive attention.’

‘Dying your hair would attract attention?’

‘It would now,’ he said. ‘I’d look ridiculous.’ He kissed her nose. ‘People would assume it was some desperate, post-midlife crisis.’

She had to admit he had a point.

‘Selina told Dan to shave off his beard,’ she said.

‘Ah, and I thought he had realized he doesn’t have the features to do justice to a beard.’

‘Did you say that to him?’

‘More or less. He said his face was as smooth as a child’s, and asked me to feel it,’ Kent said, shaking his head.

Sue had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing. ‘He asked you to feel his face? Did you?’

‘Urgh, naturally not. He tried to hug me the other morning. I certainly don’t wish to encourage any extra familiarity.’ He lay his arm across her waist.

‘Did he try to hug anyone else?’ she managed, her voice creaking as she tried desperately not to laugh.

‘No, although I believe he called Mike a “golden bear” or similar.’

That was it, she dissolved into laughter.

‘I’m glad you find it so hilarious.’

‘Oh, I so much wish I’d seen what happened when he tried to hug you!’ Sue was dimly aware of him reaching for the box of tissues. ‘I bet he grew the beard to look like you.’

‘Now you’re being fanciful.’ Kent gently dabbed up the tears streaming down her face.

Sue leant back against the head board and took deep breaths. ‘Poor Dan.’

‘Poor Dan? What about poor me?’ Kent asked.

‘It can’t be easy being a grown man with whatever the male version of a girl crush is.’

‘What’s a girl crush?’ Kent asked. There was a certain look in his eye.

‘Not like that. An intense admiration, almost worship.’

‘I don’t imagine that Dan feels that way.’

‘He must at least a little bit. He’s always thought you were an inspiration and now he wants to touch you.’ Sue smirked slightly. ‘He wants you to touch him. I can’t argue with his taste.’

Kent gently pinched her belly. ‘You have a perverse sense of humor.’

‘It’s not entirely a joke. He does have a little crush on you. I’m sure he’d consider switching teams if you showed interest.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Have you ever done that?’

Sue got out of bed and crossed over to the coffee machine. ‘Have I ever had a girl crush?’

‘Have you ever switched teams?’

‘No comment.’ She looked back over her shoulder. ‘I certainly didn’t do it during a pillow fight while wearing a Catholic schoolgirl costume.’

Kent laughed shortly. ‘No sale, I don’t like schoolgirl costumes.’

Sue turned the coffee machine on. ‘Mmm, nurse outfit?’

‘Not really.’

‘Stripper?’

‘Certainly not,’ he said severely.

Sue tapped her foot. ‘Baywatch lifeguard?’

‘Absolutely not,’ he said firmly.

She turned to face him. She was clearly approaching this wrongly. ‘Police officer?’

‘Mmm,’ Kent murmured.

‘Soldier?’

‘Mmm.’

Sue brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. ‘Doctor?’

He had to think about that one. ‘I’d have to see it on.’

‘In your dreams.’

Kent’s mouth quirked up slightly. ‘I might see you there.’

She turned back to the coffee machine. She heard him climb off the bed and walk over. He slid his hands around her waist as she poured coffee into the cups.

‘Fire fighter,’ he whispered in her ear.

‘That’s a given.’

‘Hmm, construction worker?’

Sue shook her head. ‘Too grubby.’ She tilted her head as he nuzzled her ear.

‘Hmm… James Bond?’

She stared at him. ‘How… what… how did you get to James Bond from firefighter and construction worker?’

‘I didn’t.’ He reached past her to add milk and sugar to the coffee. ‘I just said firefighter and construction worker so you wouldn’t be unnecessarily disturbed.’

‘Well, I’m _far_ more disturbed now.’

He chuckled. ‘You guessed some of mine.’

‘It took me a lot longer,’ she grumbled. She followed him back to the bed and sat down next to him.

‘You’re so competitive. Why is that?’ Kent asked.

‘I’m not. I simply like to be right and to be the best.’

‘As I said, you’re competitive.’

She nudged him with her elbow. ‘My mother has high standards.’

‘Presumably not when it comes to men,’ Kent said tartly.

‘She grows bored easily,’ Sue acknowledged.

‘Oof.’ He grimaced. ‘I don’t imagine that there’s any good reason to be told your partner wants a divorce but that one has to be particularly painful.’

She sipped her coffee. ‘I don’t see that ever bothering her. She has a laser focus and she does not approve of displays of human weakness.’ She warmed her hands around the cup. ‘You have a competitive streak.’

‘Do I? I was never interested in sports.’

‘You and Ben frequently butt heads.’

Kent shook his head. ‘That’s a clash of personalities, of ideologies. It isn’t about competitiveness. I do my work. I do it well. I don’t expect or accept anything less than adequate compensation.’

‘You have a PhD. That doesn’t suggest a laissez faire approach,’ Sue said.

‘That depends entirely on the individual intelligence and attitude of the specific person. Bright and lazy can run close to average and dedicated. Look at Jackson.’ Kent took a sip of his coffee.

Sue raised her eyebrows. ‘He’s dedicated?’

‘No. Which was less of a problem when he was smuggling drugs than as a mature student,’ Kent snorted.

 Sue though about it. ‘He’s bright?’

‘He’s studying aeronautical engineering, because planes are his particular field of interest, and higher pure math because he finds it interesting.’ Kent shook his head. ‘Have you ever sat through a lecture of higher pure math?’

‘Pure math, no.’

‘Although that’s only one kind of intelligence in a whole spectrum of types,’ Kent admitted. ‘I’m not sure if somehow keeping a clean record is some kind of gift. He’s extremely talented at not getting caught.’

Sue slipped her hand into his. ‘My family tends more towards white-collar crime.’

‘Tax evasion?’

‘And speeding. Oh, and my Aunt Laurie was arrested for assaulting a policeman at an anti-Vietnam protest.’

‘Very white-collar,’ he said dryly.

She nudged him with her elbow. ‘I was once arrested.’

Kent looked at her. ‘Oh? For assault?’

‘No, why?’ Sue asked suspiciously.

‘You’re very quick with a punch.’ Kent stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.

She rolled her eyes. ‘No, for harassment.’ She saw him pause.

‘What?’

Sue shrugged. ‘When I was in college a friend was attacked. The college authorities blamed her for being drunk and the police said it was her word against his. We couldn’t do anything to have him punished but we were unwilling to stand by while he remained in the same college. It was necessary for him to be “persuaded” to leave.’

Kent regarded her thoughtfully for a moment. ‘Did it work?’

‘Your first question is to the efficacy?’ she checked.

‘Well, I assume that you provided me with all other relevant information that you felt comfortable sharing.’

‘It worked eventually. He didn’t realize that there were a number of us involved so alibis were quite simple to arrange.’ Sue licked her lips and wondered if she had made a mistake in telling him.

Kent turned slightly and nibbled her ear. ‘My evil genius.’

‘I try to use my powers to destroy people who deserve it,’ she said, relaxing.

‘Evil and ethical,’ Kent murmured. ‘Impressive.’

Sue stroked his knee. ‘Her parents were useless.’

‘When I was at college I don’t remember there being the same automatic assumption that young women were to blame for assaults. I certainly don’t recall the assumption that a drunk woman was automatically sexually available to anyone in the vicinity.’

She shivered. ‘You’re a gentleman.’

He brushed her hair out of her eyes. ‘I’ve never been called that before.’

‘No less true.’ She shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t like to be growing up now.’

‘It isn’t just the young and it isn’t just women,’ Kent said. ‘Malcolm told me there have been a whole rash of sexual harassment scandals at Westminster. Young women, mature women, young men, mature men. I once had to give some congressional intern a job in the West Wing because his congressman had wandering hands, and that was after the intern beat the tar out of him.’

Sue went quiet for a few moments. ‘What if it had been worse than wandering hands?’ 

‘I do my job. What do you want me to say, that I’d personally beat a rapist to a pulp? My personal feelings about morality and ethics aren’t relevant to that. At least give me credit for being consistent.’

She turned slightly so that she was facing him. ‘What if it was me?’

Kent flinched. ‘Please don’t even suggest such a thing.’

‘I’m serious.’

‘I’m sure I wouldn’t be asked to deal with it.’ Kent sighed and momentarily closed his eyes. ‘I don’t know. I hope that I would have the decency to ask what you wanted rather than running off and…’

‘And what?’ Sue asked, quiet but firm.

He looked down at his hands. ‘I know how to handle a gun. I know people who, under those circumstances, would be willing to tell me, to help me…’

Sue lent forward and kissed him softly. He frowned as he looked at her.

‘I don’t understand how you could possibly consider that a good thing,’ he said.

‘I only consider it a good thing that you would want to defend or protect me.’

Kent’s hand cut through the air as he tried to explain himself. ‘Of course I would. Of course I do, but…’

Sue put her finger to his lips. ‘You’re going to say that I’m a strong woman. I am. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want or need to occasionally feel protected. You can be a little bit less respectful of my autonomy, Kent. I wouldn’t mind seeing your “daddy bear mode”, just a little.’ She dropped her hand.

‘You don’t leave much space for it,’ Kent said. He put his hand on her knee. ‘It’s very rare that you show any vulnerability.’

‘Do I need to be vulnerable for you to be protective?’ She gently stroked the back of his hand.

‘Essentially, yes.’ He shrugged. ‘Otherwise I’m just another macho idiot treating you as if you’re incapable of looking after yourself.’ 

That made her smile. ‘I am quietly confident that I would never consider you to be a macho idiot.’ She brushed her fingers through his hair. ‘When I feel annoyed on your behalf, when I dislike people harassing or denigrating you, am I being a macho idiot?’

‘You’re a woman, Sue. It’s different.’  

‘Touché.’

Kent squeezed her hand. ‘What if it was me?’ he asked.

‘What?’ Sue asked blankly.

He shrugged. ‘If I was the one attacked. What would you do? Don’t give me that look. It happens. What would you do?’

Sue forced herself to think about it, unpleasant as it was, and pursed her lips. ‘I would not have the decency to ask what you wanted. I would deal with it and spare you both the decision and any court case.’

Kent nodded. ‘I believe you would.’

***

 

‘You don’t know where you’re going?’ Amy asked over lunch.

‘It’s a surprise,’ Sue said dryly.

‘What if we need one of you in the office?’

Sue shrugged. ‘He told me to bring my passport. I don’t think you’ll be able to have us.’

Amy swallowed a mouthful of food. ‘We’re in the middle of a campaign, you can’t do this, Sue!’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘You owe us, Amy. Selina owes us. We’re going away this weekend. Do whatever you have to in order for that to work.’

‘It is completely unfair to hold that over my head.’

‘I’m not. I am merely stating the facts. Number one: you owe us and number two: she owes us.’ Sue sipped her water. ‘You could do with a break yourself.’

‘Some fucking chance of that. Maybe I should stow away in your luggage.’

Sue took a bite of salad. ‘You remember the two things I said I do on vacation?’

‘Leave me up shit creek and laugh about it?’ Amy suggested.

‘Sightseeing and sex.’ She stole one of Amy’s fries. ‘I don’t imagine that you wish to join us in either activity.’

Amy glared at her. ‘You think that you’re funny but you’re not.’ 

 

 

Sue’s suitcase was larger than she would have preferred. However, given that Kent claimed the weather was equally likely to be rain or sunshine, there was no way to avoid it. Nonetheless she was feeling relatively happy as they got into the cab. At which point Kent gave the cabby the name of a private airfield, not the airport.

‘Are we fleeing to Mexico?’

‘Would you like to?’ he asked.

Sue crossed her arms. ‘Why are we going to a private airfield?’

He shrugged. ‘That’s where the plane is.’

She narrowed her eyes. His smirk was more of a concept than a concrete fact but no less irritating for it.

‘Why is the plane at a private airfield?’ she asked.

‘Because it’s a private plane.’

She shook her head. ‘I can see why your sisters considered you to be aggravating.’

‘Not all the time,’ he said in a slightly more conciliatory tone.

Sue sighed. ‘Are you going to tell me our destination?’

‘No,’ he said.

Sue sat back and stared out of the window. ‘I better have a fantastic weekend, Kent, because right now I am very annoyed.’

He kissed her cheek. ‘Apologies.’

 

 

In a way, there was something oddly comforting about getting to the airfield and seeing Jackson inspecting the plane. It was even somewhat comforting to see Jerry and his group getting into the plane. Although the presence of Izzy was less pleasing.

‘Try to keep your hands off Jackson this time,’ Kent said lightly.

‘Keep it up. I am this close to going back home.’

‘Hey,’ Jackson said as they approached. ‘Should be lifting off in about half an hour. Good weather forecast. Should be smooth.’

Sue looked up at the plane. ‘This is a great deal larger than your other plane.’

‘If it’s got wings I can fly it,’ Jackson said, taking her suitcase. ‘And it’s not mine. I’m purely a pilot for hire here.’

‘Are we drug mules?’ Sue asked as Jackson stowed the luggage.

‘Hey, I never did any of that shit. I got some pride. I don’t put condoms in my mouth for nobody.’ Jackson waved a hand at the steps. ‘Anything you do up there is on your own back but keep in mind that Jerry and Liam are up there. So, you know, maybe keep the noise down and stay away from smoking anything too aromatic.’

 

 

They had a cabin. A _cabin_. With a bed and a small shower room. Sue stared at it.

‘I believe there are a couple of flight attendants,’ Kent said, taking off his jacket. ‘And somebody cooks to order.’

‘Kent, how much is all this costing?’ she asked weakly.

‘The flight? Nothing. They were going anyway.’ He pulled her down onto the bed. ‘The hotel I booked with flier miles. We could’ve stayed at Jerry’s hotel but I thought you’d prefer more privacy.’

‘The flight cost nothing?’ Sue asked. ‘How?’

‘It’s not as if I give them a bill when they’ve stayed at my place. Jerry’s family. It’s fine.’

Sue bent down to take off her shoes. ‘This feels so wrong.’

He was silent for a long moment. ‘If you’re not comfortable with this then we can go home. However, I have been honest. I haven’t paid for anything but the cab. This isn’t me trying to be your “sugar daddy”. Favors and deals are the lifeblood of both politics and show business.’

She opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

‘Everyone decent in there?’ Jerry’s voice called. ‘Just checking you’ve got anything you need.’

‘I’ll get it,’ Sue said, standing up. She opened the door but blocked it with her body. ‘Hi Jerry.’

‘The old man tied up?’ Jerry asked lightly.

‘Something like that.’

Jerry tilted his head. ‘Everything okay? You look… stressed or something.’

‘Can we talk somewhere else?’ Sue asked.

‘Uh, sure. I’m just down the corridor.’

Sue turned back to Kent. ‘Back shortly.’

‘Okay,’ he sighed.

 

 

Jerry’s cabin was almost identical to theirs, except for the framed photographs of his family. He took an apple from the fruit bowl and tossed it from hand to hand.

‘Shoot,’ he said.

Sue folded her arms. ‘This feels like a terrible imposition, being here. This plane must cost a fortune to run and maintain.’

‘That’s what travel fees are for.’ Jerry threw the apple into the bowl. ‘We were going anyway. We have gigs, they’ve been booked for months. Kent just asked if you guys could tag along. It’s no big deal.’

She gestured at the room. ‘It feels like a huge deal.’

Jerry shrugged. ‘I don’t know what else to tell you. Look, Sue, Kent’s not a young guy and he’s not one of these guys who goes from woman to woman. Far as I know it’s been quite a while since he’s dated. I don’t know you real well but I do know he’s nuts about you.’ Jerry scratched the back of his neck. ‘He doesn’t date much. He doesn’t have many friends. He wanted to do something really nice for you. Don’t ruin it for him.’

 

 

Kent looked up when she returned to the cabin. ‘Are we going?’

Sue walked over and kissed him. ‘No.’

He pulled her down onto his lap. ‘What did he say to you?’

She shrugged and tugged his t-shirt up and over his head. ‘Credit where due. He wields guilt like a master.’

‘A natural side effect of having teenage children.’

While he showered, Sue took photographs of the cabin: the double bed, the entertainment unit, the remains of the very tasty meal they had been served – including the bottle of wine – and finally the bathroom. Kent pulled back shower door and blinked at her.

‘Amateur porn?’ he asked.

‘To make Amy jealous,’ she said, and took several pictures of him.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘I look like a wet dog. That wouldn’t make anyone jealous.’

‘Those are for me, and you don’t look like a wet dog. You look… sleek.’

Kent grabbed a towel and rubbed his hair. ‘The light in here is too diffuse. You won’t get sufficient contrast with my skin against the shower wall.’

Sue blinked. ‘Alright.’

‘I occasionally enjoy photography.’

Her lips twitched slightly. ‘Does this photography often include bare skin beyond faces and hands?’

The blush that barely warmed his cheeks also lent a brief, delicate glow to his throat and chest. ‘Between consenting adults.’

Sue interlaced her fingers. ‘Model or photographer?’

He snorted. ‘I don’t want to see myself _clothed._ Nobody wants photographs of me naked.’

‘Don’t tell me what I don’t want,’ she said, with the tiniest smirk. ‘Can I see your _artistic_ photographs?’

‘I don’t have them with me. Would you want your ex carrying around intimate pictures?’

Sue shrugged. ‘Depends if they were erotica or porn.’

‘Good answer.’ Kent changed towels and began drying his torso. ‘I have some others on my private cell. From events.’ He licked his lips. ‘They’re nothing particularly special.’ He was clearly torn between embarrassment and hope for encouragement.

Sue picked up a hand towel and dabbed his nose with the corner. ‘I would love to see them. Please.’

Kent’s lips twitched into a tiny smile. ‘Let me get dressed first.’

 

 

 

Sue lay down on the bed on her front with his phone in her hand. It felt strange. Fifteen or twenty years ago there really no equivalent to the trust, to the risk, of handing your unlocked cell to your partner. Photographs, texts, search histories, emails… There was almost too much information you could find out. She ignored everything else and opened the photo folder. She had learnt her lesson.

The subfolders were split up by date, name of event; ‘Debate’ ‘POTUS’s Birthday Party’ – or status; ‘To Edit’, ‘Alternative Filters’. She opened the ‘French Embassy’ folder. The first photograph was of her outside Mulrooney’s. She was looking at her phone while all the people around her were just a gray blur of movement. He’d done something to the saturation of the colors; her skin was glowing warmly as if she were sat in a spotlight. The triangle of her dress that showed at her throat was a bright gleam against her gray coat. It was a little… sentimental, perhaps, but she had to admit that it was a good photograph of her.

There were other photographs of course. Some surprisingly good candid ‘action’ shots of Selina were interspersed with pictures of the architecture, a genuinely lovely shot of Amy laughing at something, and a lot more photos of Sue. She was particularly taken with a shot of herself spinning on her heel with her hair fanning out behind her. How had she not noticed him taking all of these photographs, had he been taking these each time she had thought he was texting or checking his cell?  

The last photograph in the subfolder had been taken somewhere else entirely. Sue frowned as she tried to understand what she was looking at. She could see the swirl of her coat, the splash of her hair across the fabric, and something pale held tightly in one of her hands. Her other hand was by her head and she could see her fingers were badly swollen.

‘What’re you glaring at?’ Kent asked, as he sat down on the bed next to her.

‘I’m struggling to orient this picture.’ She held out the phone. ‘What are these?’

‘Chair legs.’ Kent rested his hand on the small of her back. ‘Those are the chairs in the waiting room at the ER.’

Sue looked at the photo again. ‘I’m curled up on half a dozen chairs?’

‘I didn’t count them.’

He was rubbing her back. His hand was warm through the thin fabric of her nightdress. It wasn’t a caress, exactly, and it certainly wasn’t some attempt to get her into the bed. It was simply something that he did because he wanted to do it, without any thought or expectation of being requited or recompensed. It was purely affectionate and somehow more intimate for it.

‘Didn’t the staff have anything to say about that?’ she asked.

‘You were the quietest drunk in the place.’ He shrugged easily when she looked at him over her shoulder. ‘It was the emergency room on a weekend evening, they were just glad you weren’t vomiting, urinating on the floor, or trying to bite people.’  

Sue tapped her feet together. ‘And you sat there in your lovely suit and your smart coat.’

‘It wasn’t a problem.’

Sue looked back at the photograph. ‘What am I holding?’

‘Hmm?’ He bent down to look. ‘Oh.’ He traced his finger over a dark rectangle she hadn’t noticed, letting his finger hover above the screen. ‘That’s my arm.’

Sue felt her cheeks grow warm. ‘I’m holding your hand?’

‘I had to twist around a fair bit to get the shot.’ He nudged his shoulder against hers. ‘I couldn’t resist.’

‘It’s different to most of the others, you haven’t altered the colors or the lighting.’

She felt him shrug.

‘I softened it very slightly and evened out the light.’

Sue thumbed off the power and handed him the phone. ‘You’re good.’

‘Modern technology. Almost idiot proof,’ he said with a shrug.

Sue rolled her eyes at him. ‘Take the damn compliment.’

Kent smiled slightly. ‘Then thank you.’

‘Are you going to tell me where we’re going?’ she asked.

He checked his watch. ‘In about three hours.’

‘What happens then?’

‘We land.’

 


	17. Chapter 17

 

 

 

Sue took a photograph of the cab. An actual London black cab. She was in London, in England, about to get into a black cab.

She saw the driver roll his eyes. She didn’t care.

‘Good surprise?’ Kent asked as they set off.

‘An excellent one,’ she said, barely resisting the urge to stare at of the window. ‘Do you have a schedule? What time do we have to return on Sunday?’

‘No and eight o’clock,’ he said. ‘It’s enough for a little taster. We can do more if we come for a long trip. Oh, we have tickets for a show tonight but don’t feel constrained by that. We don’t have to go.’

‘What is it?’

Kent checked the tickets in his pocket. ‘Edward II. Marlowe apparently.’ He paused. ‘I also booked a show for Sunday afternoon. A matinee.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘What’s that one?’

‘A surprise,’ he said sheepishly. ‘No getting out of that one.’

‘Is it Jerry’s band in concert?’

‘No.’ Kent smiled slightly. ‘A play.’

 

 

The sky was gray, the cars were all on the wrong side of the road - and were ridiculously small - and the air smelled bizarre. There were English accents everywhere. She felt like a kid in a candy store.

‘Let me drop the bags off before you run away,’ Kent said.

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Sure.’ He shook his head as he approached the hotel desk. Sue tore her gaze from the street and looked at the building. There was a huge atrium of tile and marble. Overhead a stained glass ceiling gleamed. At the top of the walls she saw Latin inscriptions. There were four different staircases rising from the lobby and she could see the landings crisscrossing four or five stories into the air.

‘Do you want to see the room?’ Kent asked. A valet was behind him towing their luggage.

‘Okay,’ she said, realizing he looked tired. ‘Let’s do that.’

 

 

The walls of the elevator were carved oak. Sue carefully touched one of the panels, tracing her fingers along the whorls. ‘Have you stayed here before?’ she asked him.

Kent shook his head. ‘It’s slightly off the beaten track. I thought you would prefer something more... interesting than a chain hotel. It was recommended.’

Sue nodded. ‘You were correct.’

‘Ah good.’

The room was surprisingly spacious. The lower half of the walls were wood paneled and the upper half was tiled in creamy, brick-sized tiles that looked delicate with age. Judging by the expression on his face, Kent had not been expecting the four-poster bed.

‘That seems a little excessive,’ he remarked.

‘Shut up, it’s romantic.’

‘Shutting up.’

The bathroom had more of the tiles and panels, although the floor was heavy wooden beams. The bath had four feet in the shape of lion’s paws. It looked like something out of Hogwarts.

 

 

‘I think one day we have to share a bath. A bathtub that size is a challenge,’ Sue remarked as she walked out of the bathroom. He didn’t answer. She walked around the ridiculous bed and saw that he was on the plush sofa, fast asleep. Sue checked her watch. In the states it was the early hours of the morning, it was hardly surprising that he’d dropped off.

She sat down next to him and kissed his cheek. ‘Any chance of you waking up?’

‘Can’t hold a phoenix in your hand without burning,’ he muttered. ‘Don’t smother the flame.’

Sue put a pillow behind his head and took off his shoes before writing a brief note. She wondered if she should put a blanket over him, but the room wasn’t that cool.

 

 

 

She stood in the hotel lobby and wondered about the proper etiquette. She walked across the echoing marble floor, the rubber of her sneakers squealing, and nodded in greeting at the member of staff who came forward to meet her.

‘May I take photographs?’ she asked, gesturing at the architecture.

‘Absolutely, we also have some post cards available if you’d like.’

If she’d been at home then the tone would likely have been warm, if not downright enthusiastic. Here it was polite but there was a definite edge of something like irritation at being disturbed. The cab driver had been equally lacking in the forced exuberance she’d expect at home.

Sue could tell she was going to enjoy England.

 

 

She did a little circuit of the streets around the hotel. At home it would have been blocks but here the buildings weren’t laid out in any kind of regular pattern. Here there were occasional huge, rangy hotels interspersed with tiny shops or vertiginous, narrow apartment blocks. So she walked about a half mile in each direction. Crossing the street was extremely disconcerting. Even being conscious that the traffic was on the other side she still looked the wrong way both times. And the crosswalks! They were in the oddest places. At home they were on the corners, where everyone could see both the oncoming traffic and pedestrians waiting to cross. But here they were a dozen or more yards past the corner, just far enough to startle any driver who had just made the turn. Apparently in England, keeping everyone on their toes was worth the odd squashed pedestrian.

She stopped at a bank, realizing that she had no English currency. She would have to get some before she returned to the hotel. She would rather cut off her arm than have Kent dole out some kind of allowance to her as if she were a schoolgirl. Not that he would try to do that. He would never infantilize her in that or any other way. Sue brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. There had been that one boyfriend while she was in college who had done everything possible to make her feel small, and weak, and powerless. She was never going through that again.

The bank teller was marginally more polite than the other service staff that she had met so far. Nonetheless she wasn’t remotely chatty and she didn’t seem to care what kind of day that Sue was having. All very efficient and speedy.

 

 

 

Sue had a spring in her step as she unlocked the hotel room door. She heard the burble of the television first and then the whistle of the kettle.

‘Hello?’

‘Hey.’ Kent kissed her cheek and touched her hand with his. He’d changed into a crisp t-shirt and clean jogging pants. ‘Coffee?’

‘Thank you.’ As she watched him pad across to the kettle, with its tray of teabags, coffee packets, and sugar sachets, she noticed that his shoulders were slumped. ‘What’s wrong?’

He looked up, startled. A little warmth touched his cheeks. ‘Did you have a good walk?’

‘Yes.’ Sue walked over and reached out to rest her hand on his forearm. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing.’ It was automatic. He shook his head. ‘This is the first time I’ve felt… too old to be with you.’ Kent rubbed his forehead. ‘It’s not a pleasant sensation.’

‘Because you fell asleep? Look at your watch, your body clock thinks that it’s the middle of the night.’

‘You’re awake.’ He opened two little packets of coffee and poured the granules into the white china cups.

Sue stood in front of his and caught his hands. ‘Kent, you cannot deposit me in the one place I’ve wanted to visit since I was eleven years old and then be surprised when I enjoy the benefits of a surge of adrenalin.’

The corner of his mouth quirked up. ‘Is that your way of saying that you’re wide awake because you’re excited?’

‘I admit nothing.’ She kissed him. ‘Thank you for this.’

His left hand slid around her waist to rest in the small of her back. ‘Happy?’ 

‘Let me show you how much.’

 

 

 

Later, she brought the two cups of coffee over to the bed and slid in beside him. ‘Mark this on your calendar.’

‘Bringing me coffee in bed?’ he asked, smiling slightly. ‘For my birthday might there be a cookie to go with it?’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m promising nothing.’ She took a sip of her coffee. ‘Are you hungry?’

‘Ravenously,’ he said, leaning across to kiss her ear. ‘I’ve expended a lot of energy in a short period.’

Sue smiled and ran her fingers through his hair. ‘We’ve missed breakfast.’

‘Room service?’ he suggested.

‘Seems terribly indulgent. Isn’t it expensive?’

Kent shrugged and took her hand in his. ‘We’re on vacation. Why haven’t you been to England before if you’ve wanted to for years?’

Sue tipped back her head against the headboard and closed her eyes. ‘International travel is expensive and there were always more pressing things.’

‘You weren’t waiting for a special event were you?’ he asked.

She opened one eye and looked at him. ‘Such as a honeymoon?’

‘Yes.’

‘No.’

‘Good,’ he said. He shrugged. ‘Ruining your honeymoon for a weekend break would have been awkward.’

Sue smiled. ‘You didn’t and you couldn’t.’ She yawned. ‘Do you have a dream vacation?’

‘I’d like to go to Tokyo.’

‘Japan?’

He sipped his coffee. ‘I’ve been to a number of European cities with POTUS. After a while there’s a disquieting uniformity. There’s always a McDonalds. Everyone speaks English, at least as a second language. You see the same brand names, the same fashions, and the same food everywhere you go. I’d like to see a radically different culture.’ Kent warmed his hands around his cup. ‘Japan has an amazing history, beautiful architecture, and astonishing art.’

‘Also gadgets,’ Sue said wryly.

‘You know me too well.’

She looked at him. She was quietly confident that if she closed her eyes she could trace his every freckle, every scar, and the contour of every muscle.

‘Describe me,’ she said.

He was intelligent enough to think about it. ‘In what way?’

Sue brushed her hair back from her shoulders. ‘Any way that you choose.’

Kent put his cup aside and rested his hands on top of the bedclothes. He interlaced his fingers. ‘This is what, to see how well I know you?’

‘Indulge me.’ Sue delicately put her hand over his. ‘It’s not a trick.’

Kent chewed his lower lip. He slipped one of his hands into hers and raised the other to touch the nape of her neck. ‘In the mornings, before you shower, your skin has this warm, sweet smell. It gets caught in the little hairs you have back here. There’s a tiny trail of them all the way down your spine and into the small of your back. You’re probably thinking about now if it’s possible to get that area waxed or threaded or similar. You hadn’t realized there was hair there and it’s probably annoying you.’ He dropped his hand. ‘It interferes with your desire for perfect grooming. In some people that might be vanity but I know that isn’t the case. It’s an extension of your rigid self-control.’

Sue reached back with her free hand and touched the nape of her neck. ‘Nobody has ever mentioned that before.’

‘Why would they? You need it.’ He held up a hand to forestall her protest. ‘Sue, you’re a very attractive woman and the severity of your grooming in no way detracts from that. However a certain amount of softness and naturalness, such as the down on the nape of your neck, adds an entirely lovely counterpoint.’ Kent’s hand sketched a shape in the air. ‘Nobody is entirely impervious. We all have vulnerabilities, sensitivities, and weaknesses. They don’t make you less worthy of respect.’ He picked up her hand and turned over her arm. His fingertips traced the papery skin on the inside of her elbow. ‘You have this, this skin so delicate that it seems like a breath would raise welts, and you have a punch that can knock a man over. You can spend all day making grown men cry and then come home and need a hug because something upset you. They’re all valid. None of them diminishes the others.’ He picked up his coffee and took another sip. ‘This is where you tell me that I completely misunderstood.’

Sue shook her head. ‘Not at all.’

‘You’re going to tell me that I’m weird?’ he guessed.

Sue smiled as she lay against him. ‘It is my sincere belief that you have always been weird. Weird and interesting and, at times, peculiarly poetic.’ 

 

 

After they had another cup of coffee they went out for a walk. The call of food led them towards a Turkish owned café that nonetheless offered a dozen varieties of “English Breakfast”, all of them featuring mugs of tea and mounds of fried bread. They sat on rickety metal chairs at a wobbly table with a paper table cloth and plastic condiment bottles. Sue picked up of the ketchup bottle, it was the shape of a tomato and primary red.

‘This may have been a fatal error of judgment,’ Kent said, looking at her over the mountain of eggs, beans, mushroom, and bacon.

‘At least we’ll die with full stomachs,’ Sue said, taking a small bite of black pudding. ‘This tastes wonderful.’

‘If you like that you’d love Southern food,’ he said, cutting up a fried egg and smearing a little ketchup onto it.

‘I have never visited the South,’ she said. ‘Do you have relatives there besides the infamous Lucas?’

He snorted. ‘I do. I have several cousins and my grandmother also lives there.’

Sue paused, about to add milk to her mug of tea. ‘Your grandmother is alive?’

He made a ‘so-so’ gesture with his hand. ‘She’s ninety-seven,’ he said, ‘and very frail.’

She added milk to her tea and stirred it round slowly. ‘She must’ve had children very young.’

‘Married at sixteen and first child to live at eighteen,’ Kent said, shaking his head. ‘It was a different time.’

‘Damn.’ Sue took a sip of her tea. ‘My mother married at twenty-five. She would have been appalled to be my age and unmarried. Of course when she was young a career was something that a woman did between leaving school and getting married.’ She neatly stole a piece of his bacon. ‘People are living longer and maturing later. My mother despises it. If I ever have good news about work she always finds a way to disparage it.’

‘Does she perhaps consider your career success to be a rebuke to her life choices?’ Kent suggested. ‘My eldest sister has claimed a similar issue.’

Sue thought about it. ‘That is entirely possible. She does resent me.’ She shook her head when he touched her hand. ‘It’s fine. I have quite made my peace with her issues.’

‘I wonder if she would feel the same with a son or if the gender alignment exacerbates the situation.’

Sue corralled some baked beans onto her fork. ‘It’s an interesting question. Did you have any issue with your father?’

Kent tapped his fork on his plate. ‘Not of the same nature,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘We had very little in common and struggled to make a significant connection.’

‘You don’t speak about him much,’ Sue said, watching him.

He rubbed the end of his fork with his thumb.

‘It’s an uncomfortable topic,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t the son he wanted and he didn’t have the emotional capacity to deal with that.’

‘What did he want?’

‘Someone like Jackson,’ Kent admitted. ‘Someone he could talk about baseball with and leer at pretty girls with. Someone he could teach to build an engine or hotwire a car. Someone glib and quick and interested in a fast buck and a faster getaway.’

‘He wasn’t the only person disappointed,’ Sue said.

Kent shrugged ‘It was a long time ago.’

‘My first step-father was called Daniel,’ Sue said. ‘He was only nine years older than I was. He married my mom when they’d been dating for six weeks.’

‘That’s ridiculous,’ Kent said.

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘He had an excuse. My mom didn’t.’

‘What excuse?’

‘He was in the manic phase of his undiagnosed and untreated manic depression,’ Sue said wryly.

Kent winced. ‘How old were you?’

‘Seventeen. I was about to start college.’ Sue drained her tea. ‘Nothing I did was right. When his depression hit, it hit hard. He blamed me. My mom blamed me.’ She shrugged. ‘He hated that I was about to get a college education. He was one of those people who sees other people having things a little better and decides that they’ve somehow stolen what was his by right. I was very happy to leave for college.’

Kent shook his head. ‘That’s horrible. How long were they married?’

‘Twelve years.’

‘What?’ he asked incredulously.

‘My mother was not always the woman she is now.’ Sue shrugged. ‘But he’s gone. So I refuse to care about him.’ She yawned and checked her phone. ‘We can get a tourist bus to the palace from across the street.’

‘You want to do the tourist thing?’

‘Yes. Let’s be loud Americans,’ she said primly.

‘After all that I think I can manage "fat American" at least.’

Sue looked him up and down. ‘You could stand to gain some weight

‘Dye my hair. Wear an orange tie. Put on weight,’ he grumbled. ‘Anyone would think you were my girlfriend or something.’ 

 

 

 

They held hands outside the palace as they watched the changing of the guard.

‘Have you been here before?’ Sue asked.

‘Here? No.’

Something about the way he said it made her look at him. ‘Have you been inside?’

Kent shrugged.

Sue gave his hand a little tug. ‘Is that a yes?’

‘With POTUS, yes,’ he admitted. ‘It was work, I got to see a series of offices and meeting rooms.’ He smiled slightly at her disbelieving expression. ‘Some of it was interesting.’

‘Were you here with Charlie?’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘Exactly where did you have sex while at work?’

Kent smiled slightly and pulled her close, sliding his arm around her waist. ‘No comment.’

 

 

After the palace they went for a cruise on the river. It was breezy but Sue was happy to sit on the top, huddled under a blanket with Kent, and hugging a mug of terrible coffee. White clouds scudded through the sky, high above the vertiginous skyscrapers. There was a crispness in the air that she rarely experienced back in Washington.

‘You suggested that we might be able to return at some point for a longer vacation,’ Sue said, leaning against him.

 Kent turned his head. She felt his breath on her cheek and shivered pleasantly. ‘That’s absolutely doable. Would you like to?’

‘Yes.’ She turned her face to him and smiled. ‘Your pupils still dilate.’

‘What?’

‘There are still times when you look at me that your pupils dilate.’ She shrugged. ‘It’s reassuring that you can look at me wrapped up in a plaid blanket, windswept, tired, jetlagged, and have that response.’

Kent took a sip of his coffee. ‘Ladies often seem to imagine that men are much more fastidious in our assessment of female attractiveness then we are.’ His gaze swept her face. ‘Nonetheless, I hope you still find it meaningful that I think you look beautiful.’

‘You always think that,’ she muttered, finding her cheeks growing warm.

He tilted his head, trying to catch her eye. ‘Have I embarrassed you?’

‘No. That would be ridiculous.’

The blanket shifted as Kent moved his mug to one hand and used the other to stroke his fingers over her wrist. ‘I think that you’re embarrassed.’

‘I am not,’ Sue protested and nudged him with her shoulder. ‘Stop harassing me, Mr. Davison.’

‘Or what? Will you complain to HR?’

She met his gaze and forced a scowl. ‘That is exactly what I will do. Then I will take the batteries out of your calculator and file down one of the casters of your office chair.’

‘That’s simply vicious,’ he said admiringly.

‘Thank you.’

 

 

After they had been on the river, and then admired Westminster Abbey, they returned to the hotel where Sue dragged Kent into the bath with her. She lay back against him with the warm, soapy water lapping around her chest and closed her eyes. She felt him gently brush his fingers along her arm.

‘Sleepy?’ he asked quietly.

‘Pleasantly.’ She smiled as she felt his erection against her. ‘Not too sleepy if you want me to take care of that.’

Kent shook his head. ‘It’ll wait.’

Sue opened one eye and looked over her shoulder at him. ‘I could lean forward or turn around and wrap my legs around you. That could be fun.’

He groaned softly. ‘It would but… I don’t want to risk it.’

It took her a moment to put it together. She turned around to face him. ‘I’m on the pill.’

‘I know.’ He rubbed his face. ‘I’m paranoid. Do you know the statistical unlikeliness of a vasectomy resulting in recanalization?’

Sue flicked his nose with her finger. ‘What’s recanalization?’

‘When it uh, it’s when it heals itself.’ Kent twisted a lock of her hair around his finger.

‘I didn’t know that could happen.’

Kent snorted. ‘Nor did I.’

Sue adjusted her position, pressing up against him. ‘Trust me, Kent,’ she said quietly, ‘I won’t let that happen to us.’ She lay her arms on the side of the bath and pulled herself up.

He ran his hands along her thighs and took her weight, maneuvering her into position. She saw him close his eyes as she kissed him and heard him sigh as he lowered her down onto him.

She had been surprised before with how quick he was to believe her, to allow her to take the lead on almost anything, but she realized now that on some level he needed it. He needed to not be constantly responsible. She understood that. There were things she needed and she needed him to know without her asking.

‘You’ve grown tense,’ Kent murmured.

‘Just keeping my balance,’ she said. She rocked forward and circled her hips. ‘Mmm.’ Sue closed her eyes as he kissed along her jawline and then down her throat.

He was still supporting her weight and doing it with ease. There was something about that, about that combination of strength and delicacy, which sent prickles along her spine.

 

 

They had dinner at a restaurant around the corner from the theatre. Sue didn’t generally enjoy spicy food but she was hopeful that it might wake her up a little. Certainly, the restaurant was packed with locals, always a good sign in her opinion, and the subtly irritated concierge that had recommended the place had seemed genuine enough. After they had eaten, they had a couple of very strong coffees, and headed to the theatre.

‘I’m not too familiar with this story,’ Kent admitted, as they strolled along, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.

‘It’s not one of the most commonly performed. This is quite the…’ Sue trailed off and gave a huge yawn. ‘Excuse me. This is quite an opportunity.’

‘Are you sure that you’re up to this?’ Kent asked, and smiled slightly at her expression. ‘That wasn’t an insult, Miss Wilson.’

‘I hope that you are not implying that you are more capable of dealing with jetlag and tiredness then I am, Mr. Davison,’ she said, and yawned again.

‘I had a nap while you were reconnoitering the area,’ he observed. ‘But should you decide that you’d rather go back to the hotel, for whatever reason, then I make no judgment.’

She gave him her very best death glare and he smiled.

 

 

Sue didn’t get to the theatre in D.C. as often as she would like, due as much to cost as to a simple lack of time. She was also extremely fastidious in her tastes, having little esteem for experimental or modernist plays. Although she wouldn’t dream of saying it, she was quite concerned as to how both plays they were going to see would be staged.

It was a relief to sit down, in extremely good seats, and see traditional sets erected on the stage. It was also reassuring to see the amount audience members in smart attire. She always thought it was a shame that modern men’s fashion was so relentlessly slanted towards casual clothing. In Sue’s opinion, almost any man was improved by wearing a well-tailored suit.

‘Urgh.’

‘What?’ she asked, turning to look at Kent.

He gestured at the program. ‘There are some very unpleasant rumors as to how Edward the second died. The English were not subtle when they were unhappy with their rulers.’

‘They killed a lot of their rulers,’ Sue said, shaking her head. ‘I believe that they’re one of the only countries where they revolted against their royal family, and then brought it back.’

‘They’re not a people given to abandoning traditions if they can humanly avoid it,’ he said.

Sue covered her mouth as she yawned. ‘I like tradition.’ She leant against him. ‘We should make some of our own.’

‘If I bought a bigger tub that could be an excellent tradition.’

‘It would,’ Sue said, as the lights began to dim. She sat back against her warm, plush chair, and enjoyed the sound of rising silence.

 

 

 

Sue woke up to the sound of a siren. She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.

‘Sue? That’s the fire alarm. We need to get up.’

She sat up and automatically climbed off the bed. She was in her negligee although a certain tightness of her skin suggested she was wearing a full face of makeup.

‘Here.’ Kent held out her coat as she stepped into her shoes. ‘We need to go.’

It was baffling. She was too bemused to do anything but grab her bag as he opened the door. He had pulled on his jacket and his shoes but looked barely more awake and coherent than Sue felt. He shoved both their cells in one of his pockets and his wallet into the other.

At the end of the corridor, smoke was crawling along the ceiling. Doors were being slowly opened by confused guests as they tried to determine what was going on. Sue jumped as their bedroom door snapped shut behind them. Kent caught her hand and pulled her after him as he opened the fire exit. The stairwell beyond was as bare and dingy as the regular stairs were sumptuous and bright.

‘What time is it?’ she asked, as they clattered down the pocked concrete stairs.

‘It was thirty-three minutes past five when the siren sounded,’ he said. ‘I’m reluctant to check my cell at the moment as these steps are barely passable as it is.’

‘What happened last night?’ Sue glanced back up the stairwell. There were other guests beginning to shuffle down after them, mostly dressed in nightgowns and wearing slippers.

‘There was a pressing need for us to leave with some alacrity.’ He sounded slightly out of breath. How many flights had they already made it down, and how many were left?

‘What does that mean?’

They had to pause as an influx of guests flowed out through a fire exit.

Kent glanced at her. ‘One of us fell asleep and, the other one, after waking them futilely for the third time, had to organize a swift withdrawal before the snoring started.’

‘I am so sorry,’ she said. She stopped but he gently pulled her on.

‘Being awoken suddenly doesn’t suit you at all,’ Kent said lightly. He looked at her again. ‘It was unrealistic to book the play last night. Don’t blame yourself.’

‘It was completely reasonable. I should have taken a nap when you did.’ Sue waited as he shoved open the door to the street. ‘I hope I didn’t embarrass you too badly.’

‘Not the first time you’ve honored me with your sleeping beauty impression,’ Kent said. He squeezed her hand. ‘Probably not the last.’

Sue shivered as she stepped out into the early morning light. There were already guests assembled along the side of the hotel, attracting no small amount of attention from the sparse cars passing by. Not that it was simply the array of nightwear drawing the eye. There were also a great many guests who were dressed in the oddest selection of armor, medieval or Victorian inspired clothes, and a huge variety of corsets. It was notable that all of those guests appeared more drunk than tired.

‘What do we do now?’ Sue asked.

‘Wait,’ Kent said with a shrug. ‘All we can do for the moment.’

 


	18. Chapter 18

 

 

 

 

 

It started to rain around the time that the fire fighters arrived. Sue was grateful that she was wearing a coat and shoes rather than a nightgown and slippers, but the air was still chilly and the rain threatened to turn into a downpour. They both turned up their collars against the drizzle.

‘Very English weather,’ Sue said.

‘This is ridiculous,’ Kent muttered, and suddenly walked over to the harassed and increasingly damp looking hotel manager.

Sue couldn’t hear what was said. She didn’t need to, Kent's ramrod posture and sharp hand gestures were enough. He came stamping back as the manager tried to attract the attention of the grumbling guests.

‘They’ve got our names and contact details. It’s going to be hours before anything is resolved,’ Kent said. ‘There’s an all-night café up there, I propose that we get coffee and then consider what to do next.’

 

 

They weren’t alone in abandoning the evacuation point for the café, where the staff were startled but enthusiastic to provide gallons of tea so strong it was almost orange, and coffee so sweet that the spoon almost stood up by itself. In fact so many of the other guests came along that Sue and Kent ended up sharing a table with two young women; one dressed as a hussar but also sporting vampire teeth, and the other whose gleaming, red, leather corset was doing wonders to elevate her ample bosom to the vicinity of her throat.

Kent was being very careful to look at her face. Far too careful. Sue put her hand over his, a little signal as much for anyone nearby as for him.

‘I knew we should’ve gone to bed when the reds did,’ the hussar said, her words somewhat distorted by her teeth.

‘Then we’d be here in our nighties,’ her corseted companion replied. 'No thank you.'

‘You must be wondering what the heck’s going on,’ the hussar said to Sue, who noticed she wasn’t nearly as fastidious at keeping her eyes at an appropriate height when meeting new people.  

‘I think someone said there was a convention at a nearby hotel,’ Kent said too politely.

‘That’s right, we’re the overflow,’ Corset said cheerfully. ‘I’m Sophie and this is Cloud.’

‘Sue,’ she said with a nod. ‘This is Kent.’

‘You’re Americans?’

‘For our sins,’ Sue said.

‘I love Americans,’ Cloud said dreamily, punching the air, ‘you’re all so enthusiastic and full of zip.’

‘You just enjoy the prevalence of surgically created small waists and artificially inflated giant boobs,’ Sophie accused.

Kent snorted, turning his attention to his cell.

‘It’s true,’ Cloud said sadly, ‘I do like an hourglass figure.’ She perked up as she looked at Sue. ‘You’ve got a lovely figure and cracking legs. I noticed when we were outside at the evacuation point.’

Kent looked up from his cell and raised his eyebrows.

‘Oh my God, Cloud! Her boyfriend is _right there_!’ Sophie shook her head.

Kent waggled his fingers at Cloud. She grinned in delight and waved back.

‘I love you! You’re adorable!’ She grinned at Sue. ‘He’s adorable.’

Sue smiled tightly and slid her arm through Kent’s. That she heard him stifle a chuckle did nothing to improve her mood.

‘Don’t worry, she tells random people that she loves them all the time,’ Sophie said, waving a hand. ‘Not sure I’ve heard her say it to a man before.’

‘I’m honored,’ he said gravely. He turned to Sue. ‘There’s good news and there’s bad news.’

 

 

The good news was that a car was on the way. The bad news was that it was being sent by Malcolm, who had not only seen the fire on the news but had recognized them from the very brief shot of the unhappy guests huddled in the rain.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever known him so amused,’ Kent said, as they waited outside the café for the car to arrive. ‘I’ll never hear the end of it.’

‘I’m sorry.’

Kent looked across at her. ‘Who are you and where is the real Sue?’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘Take advantage of my contrition while you have it. It has considerable rarity value.’ She fought not to smile as he tickled her fingers.

‘Think how amused he’ll be when I tell him you practically growled “mine” every time someone looked at me.’

Sue pursed her lips. ‘It had nothing to do with people _looking_ at you.’ She caught his eye as he glanced at her. ‘Although I did appreciate you not perusing at the buffet of breasts on display.’

‘Apologies,’ he said quietly. ‘Mentioning it was insensitive.’

‘Where was your trumpeted jealousy when the charming Englishwoman was making a pass at me?’ Sue asked archly.

‘Reciprocate and you’ll see an abundance,’ Kent snorted.

‘I was almost expecting her to suggest a threesome.’

Kent raised his eyebrows. ‘I don’t believe that I would enjoy that as much as cultural norms would indicate.’

Sue tapped her feet. ‘Not one of your fantasies?’

‘Possibly not the most sensible to realize. It seems fraught with potential difficulties.’ He glanced at her. ‘There are innumerable other ways to explore and expand without introducing third parties.’

Sue allowed herself a small smirk. ‘My goodness, Mr. Davison, I am shocked beyond measure.’

 

 

This early in the morning the streets of London were fairly quiet although the drizzling rain and grayish light lent a strange, almost ethereal tint to the Victorian era houses. A couple of cabs passed by taking sleepy vacationers off to the airport. Sue watched out of the window, wishing that there was more time.

The car pulled up to a large office block, a concrete monstrosity with dozens are darkened windows almost blotting out the three or four lighted ones. The door opened and the driver offered Sue his hand. She flashed a challenging look at Kent and he scowled back playfully.

‘I am not filled with optimism about this,’ Kent said, stepping out of the car and looking up at the almost deserted building.

‘When the fuck have you ever been full of optimism about any fucking thing?’ Malcolm asked, marching over towards them. ‘Your near pathological pessimism is one of the only fucking tolerable things about you.’

‘Yet next to you I’m practically Pollyanna,’ Kent said crisply.

‘It’s too early in the morning for literary references,’ Sue said. ‘You know how arousing I find them.’

Malcolm clasped a hand to his chest. ‘A woman who finds literature sexy, be still my throbbing loins.’

‘If that's where you keep your loins then I see yet another reason for your inability to form meaningful relationships with actual human beings,’ Kent snorted. ‘Can we get out of the rain?’

 

 

Malcolm switched on the lights to the cafeteria as he wandered in. ‘Have you had any scran yet?’

Sue looked at Kent who shrugged blankly.

‘Have we what?’ she asked.

Malcolm lifted up the flap to the kitchen counter and wandered through. ‘Food. Have you had breakfast, pet?’

‘Just coffee,’ Sue said. ‘What did you have in mind?’

Malcolm waggled his eyebrows. ‘Tatties and sausages would fit a hole in my belly, but I’m sure that if you give your man a kick he’ll put on an apron and rustle you up something to suit you.’

 

It was weird, and deliciously, bizarrely, hilarious to watch the two of them bickering and sniping around the kitchen. She supposed that she shouldn’t be surprised that Malcolm was also extremely comfortable cooking. He had the scent of a long-term bachelor, a man married to his job and, she suspected, with nothing else in his life. Was that what people thought when they looked at Kent? Did they think something similar when they looked at her? She had a number of interests but she knew that she worked longer hours than anyone else in her family. They blamed it for her failure to start a family, or they claimed to. She had never made a secret of her aversion to having children.

The cafeteria staff arrived just as they were dishing up blueberry pancakes – Kent’s contribution – and fried potatoes, sausages, and eggs – courtesy of Malcolm. The poor staff were by turns baffled and annoyed but soothed easily enough.

Sue, Kent, and Malcolm sat down in a corner of the cafeteria with food, mugs of tea and a handful of varied condiments.

‘When you’ve had your fill I’ll give you something of mine to wear,’ Malcolm said to Kent. ‘Maybe a bit long but it’ll do.’ He gulped down some tea. ‘You, pet,’ he said to Sue, ‘you’re a bit trickier. I’ll grab one of the lasses about the right height to see you right.’

‘That would be very kind,’ Sue said, and ignored his exaggerated surprise. ‘Thank you for the car and the breakfast.’

‘The laughs I got out of seeing this old fucker, in his boxers, shivering in the rain?’ Malcolm said, raising his eyebrows. ‘I tell you, pet, I am going to cherish that picture from now until the day I fucking die. So, think of this as some tiny, miniscule amount of payment for the hours of amusement you’ve already given me and the _years_ of amusement yet to come.’

Kent silently shook his head and said nothing.

‘Are you normally in work this early?’ Sue asked, pausing to enjoy her mouthful of pancake.

‘Aye, early to rise and late to bed.’ Malcolm gestured with his fork. ‘I’m betting you’re the same.’

Sue lent back and sipped her tea. She rarely drank it at home but it suited her here, where she didn’t have to rush and there was no Selina screaming randomly.

‘Not quite to the extreme that Kent is,’ Sue said. ‘The amount of times that I’ve woken him up at his desk is quite impressive.’

Kent’s expression when he looked at her was distinctly hangdog.

‘Do you have someone to wake you up at your desk, Mr. Tucker?’ Sue asked, touching the back of Kent’s hand. 'Or is there nobody who cares enough?'

Malcolm smiled thinly. ‘Tou-fucking-ché, Miss Wilson.’ He folded his arms on the table as he lent forward. ‘Quite the bulldog aren’t you?’

Sue picked up a piece of his sausage and ate it. ‘I will defend what’s mine,’ she said. ‘Aggressively, if necessary.’

‘Oh, I like you,’ Malcom said admiringly. ‘Have I told you that?’

 

 

‘You're my heroine,’ Kent murmured, as they watched Malcolm skip across the cafeteria to harass a startled middle-aged woman in a badly fitting suit.

‘You’re the only man I know who would say that without any trace of irony or resentment,’ Sue said.

He looked at her. ‘That doesn’t speak well of my gender as a whole.’

‘It speaks well of you.’ Sue touched his hand. ‘I haven’t properly thanked you.’

‘You said that,’ Kent said, ‘at the hotel.’

‘I have yet to thank you for everything else.’ Sue finished her tea. ‘For visiting my family and not leaving. For helping Amy despite your reservations.’

He was shaking his head before she finished talking. ‘None of that requires gratitude.’

‘If it was required then it would be no fun at all.’

Malcolm scuttled back to them, towing the beleaguered looking woman behind him. ‘Right now, distinguished Americans, this here is Nicola. I reckon she’s about your size more or less.’

Nicola gave Sue a weak little wave. ‘Um, I don’t have anything here but I have a flat nearby. We can go pick up something for you to wear now if you like?’

 

 

‘I didn’t think Malcolm had friends,’ Nicola said. Her car was tiny and cluttered with food wrappers and empty water bottles.

‘I’m not entirely sure that’s quite the most appropriate term.’ Sue gazed out of the window at the small houses and tiny winding streets. ‘He and Kent have quite a strange relationship. I suspect Mr. Tucker is more fond of Kent than the reverse.’

‘I would say that was hardly surprising but that would mean Malcolm was capable of human affection,’ Nicola sneered. ‘You know he was in prison after he released medical records to the press?’

‘Yes, I heard that,’ Sue said, looking back at her.

‘A member of the public killed himself, did you hear that?’

She was gripping the steering wheel tightly. Sue crossed her legs.

‘I don’t believe so.’

‘Sorry,’ Nicola said. ‘Sorry, it’s just Malcolm. When he went to prison we all thought… and yet here he is again, just as bad and twice as smug.’ She glanced across at Sue. ‘You met him over in the U.S.?’

Sue nodded. ‘He interrupted a very nice dinner in order to demand several of the vice president’s advisors meet with him on their recent visit to London with the VP.’

Nicola scowled and stared out of the window. ‘Did he say what he wanted to discuss?’

‘Not that I heard.’ Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘Is that helpful?’

‘God, you must think I’m a monster sitting here trying to find dirt on him,’ Nicola muttered. ‘He launched a bloody coup against me! Got me deposed as leader of the party, and all because he decided I wasn’t up to snuff.’

‘I hadn’t realized that British politics was so vicious,’ Sue said. ‘This is certainly informative.’

‘Oh good,’ Nicola said grimly, ‘I have high hopes of our educating each other.’

 

 

Sue looked at herself in the mirror. None of Nicola’s clothes had come close to fitting but her elder daughter’s jeans clung nicely and a cropped t-shirt flashed a slice of her stomach. She wouldn’t _dream_ of being seen in it back home but this was a different country. Besides, she was looking forward to seeing Kent’s response.

‘It’s a very American name, Kent,’ Nicola said as she made them both a coffee. ‘I’ve never heard of an Englishman named Kent.’

‘There’s one in _King Lear_ ,’ Sue pointed out.

Nicola scowled as she thought about it. ‘That’s where he’s the duke of or something isn’t it? Like there’s someone else called Gloucester.’

‘You may well be correct, which is interesting as Kent's mother is Irish.’

Nicola stared absently at a packet of cereal on the kitchen worktop. ‘I bought those last week and do you know what my daughter said? She told me that she was not a bloody baby.’ Nicola refocused on Sue. ‘I don’t even like children. God knows I don’t like _my_ children. They’re awful. I can’t wait for them to leave home because I’ll finally be able to get a divorce.’

Sue sipped her coffee. ‘You’re staying together for the children.’

‘I’ll tell you a secret, Sue, _sometimes_ when people say that what they mean is: dear God, don’t let me stuck with sole custody.’

Sue covered her mouth as she managed to swallow her coffee.

‘Do you have children?’ Nicola asked.

‘No.’

‘Very wise.’ Nicola squeezed the bridge of her nose. ‘It’s so easy to believe what everyone tells you is the thing to want. You’re told that woman want it “all” and that “all” is a family and a career.’ She looked at Sue. ‘Yeah, they never mention a _life_. Have you noticed that?’

‘I have a life,’ Sue said. ‘I enjoy it a great deal.’

‘Good for you.’ Nicola finished her coffee. ‘I had a career and then it was gone.’ She snapped her fingers. ‘I’ll be stuck on the backbenches until I retire. Don’t let your career destroy your life. Don’t wake up like me; middle-aged with a husband you hate, kids you don’t know, a career in terminal decline, and no life.’

 

 

Kent was looking rather fetching in a pair of slightly too-long jeans, a pink check shirt, and an oatmeal colored fleece. He was perched on the edge of someone’s desk sipping from a Starbuck’s cup while a very tall, very slim, young man with glasses and a riot of curls agitatedly twitched about the tiny office.

‘Oh, finally! I don’t have all day to-’

‘Shut up, Ollie, nobody gives a shit about your day and whatever sewer wading you plan on filling it with,’ Nicola said. She turned to Sue. ‘It was nice meeting you, please feel free to tell Malcolm it was a pleasure and I hope he dies buried in a mountain of shit. I’d be grateful if you would pass my daughter’s clothes on to me here.’

‘I will.’  

‘She seems nice,’ Kent said dryly, after Nicola left.

‘Yeah, a real ball of sunshine,’ Ollie said heading for the door. ‘Tucker wants you dropping off in the West End.’

‘Why the West End?’ Sue asked Kent.

‘Don’t know. Don’t care,' Ollie said.

 

 

The car squealed off into the distance but Sue didn’t notice. She was staring at the towering building in front of her and wondering if her credit card would work in England.

‘I’m going to kill him,’ Kent muttered.

Sue looked at him. His shoulders were hunched and for a moment pink spots touched his cheeks. ‘Why are you embarrassed by your passions?’

That startled him enough to tear his gaze away from the elaborate displays in the store windows.

‘I’m not embarrassed by _all_ my passions,’ he said, giving her a long, slow look.

Sue smiled slightly and slipped her hand into his, but refused to be distracted so easily. ‘Merely the ones you’ve had the longest?’

‘I’m a grown man. Post-middle age the socially acceptable interests are the more expensive sports and the less popular performing arts,’ Kent said, taking a step back from the store.

Sue looked at him. ‘Kent, quit being a baby and come into the comic book store.’

 

 

 Sue was impressed, not only was the store quite enormous, but it had a vast array of books, DVDs, models, toys, games, posters, t-shirts, and almost everything else conceivable.

Including costumes. Sue held up a woman’s Star Trek costume. It was very short. A possibility. Not that she would consider a unilateral introduction of role play. Although getting _him_ into some kind of costume would doubtless require an exceptionally strong motivation.

She turned to scan the room. Kent was a dozen feet away, visible over the short shelves. He was juggling several t-shirts, couple of model kits, a handful of magazines, and several fantasy map books. Sue chuckled and put the dress back. She wandered over to him, picking up a shopping basket on the way.

‘Here.’

‘Sorry, you must be bored,’ he said, tipping his plunder into the basket and taking it from her. ‘I’m done now.’

Sue brushed her fingers through his hair. ‘I’m not bored. I was looking at the costumes over there.’

Kent followed her gesture. ‘Original Star Trek?’

‘Some of the others were…’ Sue shook her head. ‘I have a philosophical object to slave girl costumes.’

They strolled together towards the checkouts.

‘Understandable,’ he said. ‘But, uh, other…’ Kent licked his lips and looked at her. ‘Other costumes?’

‘Open to negotiation,’ Sue said crisply. She raised an eyebrow. ‘Reciprocation is non-negotiable.’

That set him thinking, and deeply enough that she hand to hand his purchases over to the cashier.

 

 

When Sue had been a girl, there had been a bookstore in every town and city. Her allowance had been small but she had made a few extra dollars with additional household chores. Doing the laundry had always paid the best. She saved up her money jealously. Once a month Lenore would take her into town and they would go shopping and then have dinner. Sue would take her meagre savings, tucked carefully into her little purse, and buy as many books as she could afford. There was a ritual to it. From the moment she woke up on that Saturday morning, once a month, she knew exactly what was going to happen. All children crave routine and regularity. Sue loved those Saturdays; the dressing up, the visits to the grown-up stores, and then sitting in the restaurant with her hair in ribbons and wearing her shiny leather shoes. But most of all she enjoyed buying the books. She normally bought three or four per trip and spent the rest of the month poring over them.

Bookstores were more than nostalgia. There was a romanticism about them. They represented not only knowledge and the varied pleasures of the literary art but a way of life. _This_ bookstore, with its towering black bookcases, leather sofas and armchairs dotted about, and its general air of quiet contemplation, was as close to her platonic ideal of a bookstore as she could imagine.

‘Have you been here before?’ she murmured, looking at the floor plan.

‘A couple times.’ Kent rested his hand on the small of her back, then slipped it under her t-shirt and rubbed in soothing circles. ‘There’s a reasonable classics section. Thought you might like to have something to eat in the coffee shop when you’ve had a look around.’

‘What’re you going to do?’ Sue asked, leaning against him.

‘Browse the science fiction and fantasy section,’ he said, kissing her forehead. ‘Unless you want me to come with?’

Sue shook her head and patted his ass. ‘No, you go enjoy. I’ll meet you upstairs in, say, half an hour?’

He snorted. ‘You haven’t seen the classics section yet. Make it an hour.’

 

 

Sue had to admit that he had a point. She stalked among the bookshelves, expecting to be disappointed, but faintly hopeful that the English high street bookstore might be less terrorized by the edicts of the “moral guardians” than their American brethren.

There was a whole shelf. All of the short stories, all of the long stories, his letters from prison, his dreary plays, as well as critical reviews and essays. Most of them were paperback but there were also several paradoxically beautiful hardbacks. Sue took those, hesitated over the other paperbacks, and then went looking for any Voltaire that they had. There was a certain dark humor to be found in considering Voltaire as socially acceptable camouflage.

If there was one major flaw with the bookstore it was the lack of baskets. Sue had an armful of books before she had looked at even half the shelves. At this rate they were both going to need extra luggage. That made her smile slightly. Presumably an upside to a private plane was that extra baggage would certainly not incur any charges.

Her cell was distressing loud in the quite of the store. She staggered over to the nearest table of special offer books, put them down carefully, and rolled her eyes when she saw Amy’s name.

‘Yes?’

‘Where the fuck are you?’ Amy demanded. ‘Jesus, when _you_ need to cry on someone’s shoulder I’m always around.’

‘That’s because you have no life,’ Sue pointed out. ‘What’s the problem?’

 

 

Sue still had the cell clamped to her ear when she climbed into the elevator for the coffee shop. Amy’s family tribulations were neither original nor particularly interesting, neither of which Sue much minded, but Amy was singularly difficult to soothe. Listening sympathetically incited demands for help, and suggestions were always met with convoluted explanations for why they would not work. It was tiring. Sue wasn’t surprised that Ed had apparently gone running for the best part of a day rather than dealing with it.

Kent was in the coffee shop sat at a large, heavy oak table, lounging back in an overstuffed armchair. There was a delicate, vintage-style cake stand on the table. The bottom plate was full of tiny sandwiches, all of them so carefully presented that they almost looked manicured. The middle plate had a selection of cakes, including scones, and many of them stuffed with cream or fondant. The top plate held several tiny pots of jam along with single, double, and clotted cream. Next to this altar of the confectioner’s art were a large pot of tea, one of hot water, and one of drinking chocolate.

Kent silently took her armful of books as she _finally_ got Amy off the line.

‘Amy. Family trouble,’ Sue explained.

‘I know the feeling,’ he said heavily. He shrugged at her questioning expression. ‘Jerry called me, my grandmother died.’

Sue sat down and touched his hand. ‘When’s the funeral?’

‘The sixth, the funeral is at eleven and the wake is after.’

‘We have time to work out how to arrange things,’ she promised. She gestured at the table. ‘Are we expecting to be joined by an army?’

‘They claimed that this is very popular with tourists,’ he said. ‘I thought you might like to try it.’

‘I would,’ she said. ‘When I am the size of a school bus, please remember that this was entirely your fault.’

He was about to reply when he glanced at the books he was still holding. Sue silently poured a cup of hot chocolate and watched as the color drained from his face.

‘What… Why… You haven’t bought these?’ he asked, putting them carefully on the spare seat.

‘Not yet, Amy called before I could.’ Amy sipped her drink. It was almost exactly like drinking melted English chocolate. Delicious but far too heavy alongside food. Sue poured herself a cup of tea instead.

Kent sat back and licked his lips. ‘If this is a joke I’m not sure that I get it.’

‘They’re satirical, Kent,’ Sue said. ‘Anyone considering them erotica is missing the point.’

He wasn’t convinced but obviously didn’t feel like pressing the issue. ‘Do you have enough cash?’

Sue picked up one of the miniature glazed ham and extra mature cheddar cheese sandwiches. ‘I can use my credit card.’

‘Don’t do that,' he spluttered, almost choking on a fondant fancy.

‘I called the company, it’s no problem.’ 

He took a scone and cut it in half. ‘You don’t think that a credit card record showing that a member of the vice president’s staff bought a mountain of books by the Marquis De Sade might be… problematic?’

Sue brushed crumbs from her hands and reached for another sandwich. ‘It would bring a new facet to the term “vice president”, I suppose.’ Her smile was a touch sheepish. ‘I had not considered it in that light.’

‘I won’t tell if you won’t,’ he said.

Sue took out her purse. ‘I think I have almost enough cash.’

‘I have some if you’re short.’ Kent idly, almost unthinkingly took down a pot of jam and popped off the top. He tried to spoon the jam out of the pot but his hands were shaking too hard. ‘Sue, if there was something that you… would you tell me if you weren’t... satisfied?’

Sue felt her stomach cramp. She put her purse back and reached across, putting her hand over his. ‘They’re satires,’ she said softly, ‘not wish fulfillment.’

Kent stroked her hand. ‘I didn’t think you actually wanted to be locked away in a castle somewhere and murdered,’ he said dryly.

‘Oh, so you’re quite familiar with at least _one_ of his novels,’ Sue teased.

‘Only the outline,’ he said gravely. ‘I work in politics. How can I know how desperately perverse something is if I’m completely ignorant of it?’

 

 

They had almost finished when the texts came through telling them that their room was fine and that they could return to the hotel at their convenience. Most of the damage appeared to be in the east wing and they were promised faithfully that their possessions should all be in good order.

The room smelled faintly of smoke, but they were too tired to much care. They did not so much change clothes as strip down to their underwear and collapse onto the bed.

‘What time must we book out?’ Sue murmured.

‘Late checkout is six but we’ll be gone by then,’ he muttered, ‘nothing to worry about.’

‘I had no intention of worrying.’

His hand found her hip and his fingers slipped onto her thigh. Sue smiled.

‘What?’ he asked.

‘However did you manage when you were single?’

‘That was easy.’ Kent’s voice was very low and rather rough. 

 Sue turned her head and was unsurprised to see that he was already looking at her. ‘How was it easy?’

‘You weren’t lying next to me in your underwear.’

She rubbed her eyes and yawned. ‘I hope that you realize there is no other man who I would even be having this conversation with. Don’t fall asleep on me.’

Kent looked at her. She looked at him. Then he rolled over with an impressive conservation of effort.

He kissed her gently. ‘Are _you_ going to fall asleep?’

‘Less chatter and more shagging,’ she said, in her best English accent.

Kent buried his face in her neck. She didn’t hear him make a sound but his shoulders shook with laughter. She closed her eyes and stroked her hands up his back. His skin was warm and slightly dry. She felt the long, stretched scar in the middle of his back and the raised notches along his shoulder blades where she had scratched him. He made a soft, small sound when he entered her, and again when she clenched around him.

‘Good weekend?’ he whispered into her ear.

‘The best.’

It was slow and it was careful, and it was gentle. A creeping warmth, more than simple tiredness, slipped over Sue. It had been an exceptional weekend so far but, more than the flight, the hotel suite, or even the shopping, what she enjoyed most were the comfortable silences. Those moments in the bed, in the tub, or even just walking together, when they shared warmth and the sense of fitting together with barely any need to speak.

 

 

They didn’t eat before heading to the theatre, still overfull from Afternoon Tea and happy for extra time to nap. After a frantic few hours of packing, sending luggage to the plane, and returning borrowed clothing, they stepped out of the cab in front of the theatre.

‘I will try to stay awake this time,’ Sue promised.

‘I sincerely hope so.’ Kent gave her the tickets.

She smiled when she read the title of the play, ‘Dangerous Liaisons’, and didn’t know what to say.

 

 

Afterwards, in the cab to the plane, Sue was quiet and thoughtful. The production had been excellent but, more than that, the thoughtfulness behind the choice left her a little… overcome.

‘I still maintain that Valmont’s supposed redemption weakens the play overall,’ Kent said, clearly trying to spur a debate.

Sue gave him a small smile. ‘But Merteuil remains pleasingly venal to the end. Besides, the idea of love redeeming the irredeemable is pervasive and lends a certain romance.’

‘Imbecilic is what it is. Why would he repent when every villain, no matter how vile, believes that he is the hero of his own story?’ Kent sat back in his chair. ‘Isn’t that what _everyone_ thinks?’

It wasn’t a completely new concept to her but it was a beguiling thought.

‘Even monsters?’ she asked.

‘Especially monsters, because they, more than anyone, lack the empathy to understand other people might even have an alternative point of view.’

Sue lifted up her feet and rested them on his thigh. ‘Have you met many monsters?’

‘I work in politics,’ he said, and rested his hand on her ankle.

‘Nicola had some terrible things to say about Malcolm,’ Sue said uneasily.

‘He’s a demonstrably terrible person,’ Kent said mildly. ‘Did you answer her questions?’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘What makes you think she asked me anything?’

‘Why else would she tell you about Malcolm, if not to engage your sympathy?’ 


	19. Chapter 19

 

 

 

Sue delicately covered her mouth as she lost the battle with a huge yawn. She had absolutely no regrets about her weekend break, but a day at home to recover would have been perfection. Something to remember for their next weekend break. Sue was too much of a professional to let tiredness affect her efficiency although her building anxiety was certainly not helping.

‘Tell him to stop overselling the damn crate,’ Amy muttered to her. ‘He’s overselling it.’

‘You want her to use it don’t you?’

In truth, Selina not using it hardly seemed to be an issue. It had gone down quite a storm with her. Sue took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was the simplest part. She had never orchestrated a disaster before although she had certainly witnessed plenty of inadvertent ones. It didn’t help that Amy was jittery as hell. Admittedly she was the only one directly dealing with Quincy, but Sue was under no illusions that Amy wouldn’t take them both down with her if she deemed it necessary.

Sue was surprised that Kent caught her eye as he wandered away from Selina. He was clutching his cell in his hand and he gave her an almost imperceptible head tilt as he passed.

‘Now what?’ Amy muttered.

‘One way to find out.’ Sue counted to ten and then followed him out of the room.

 

 

She found him in the stationery cupboard. He held a finger to his lips as she closed the door.

‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

Kent licked his lips. ‘POTUS has called me back to D.C.’

‘Oh.’ Sue found herself blinking rapidly. ‘Oh. Why?’

He rubbed his forehead. ‘I shouldn’t tell you.’

Sue moved closer and caught his hand. ‘You don’t have to.’

‘I want to.’ He smiled slightly. ‘I trust you.’

‘So tell me.’

Kent moved closer and lowered his voice. ‘I have to go help work out the timetable.’

‘For what?’

‘He’s resigning to care for FLOTUS,’ he said softly, sadly. ‘She’s not improving. It’s extremely concerning.’

Sue closed her eyes for a moment and attempted to think clearly. ‘When?’

‘That’s what I’m going to help him work out.’ Kent showed her his cell, as if she needed convincing. ‘It’s delicate.’

‘How does this change things with Quincy?’

‘It doesn’t. Nothing changes, we go ahead. We have to act as if she’s still campaigning. Selina doesn’t know and she likely won’t until it’s all hammered out.’ He tucked his cell into his pocket. ‘The vice president in this kind of a scandal would destroy her career and make her a laughing stock. But a sitting president?’ Kent shook his head. ‘ _America_ would be a laughing stock.’

Sue nodded. ‘How long will you be away?’

He dropped his head and her heart sank with it. ‘It’s a complex situation. At least a few days. Possibly a week.’

‘A week!’ Sue covered her eyes with her hand. ‘What about your grandmother’s funeral?’

‘I’ve booked a room so, if you want, you can come along? You don’t have to come to the funeral or the wake. At least we’ll have some time together.’

Sue smacked his arm. ‘Come away with you and spend the entire time in your _hotel room_? Is that what you think of me?’

Kent rubbed his arm. ‘It’s in the Deep South, Sue. There will be comments. Even the ones who don’t mean to be malicious come out with things that make me…uneasy.’

‘I’ve heard it all before,’ she said.

He flinched. ‘I don’t want you to be hurt.’

‘Do you agree with them?’ Sue asked raising an eyebrow.

‘No. Naturally not.’ He tried to take a step back but Sue caught his lapel.

‘Then you won’t let me be hurt,’ she said.

‘I’m attempting to prevent it happening,’ he grumbled, ‘but you’re not helping.’

‘I want to be there with you.’

‘I know.’

‘I wish I could come to D. C. with you,’ Sue said.

‘You do?’ Kent slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close. ‘If I could think of a way for you to come along…’

‘I know,’ she said, and slid her arms around his neck. ‘You must be worried about Joanna.’

‘She’ll never forgive herself,’ Kent said, shaking his head.

‘He’s doing the right thing,’ Sue said. ‘It’s admirable.’

‘I thought you disliked her.’

‘That doesn’t preclude sympathy for her illness I hope.’

He nodded. ‘Sympathy for her illness does not preclude admitting that she can be very annoying.’

‘So deeply annoying,’ Sue said.

‘It’s true.’

They smiled at each other and he rested his forehead against hers.

‘I wish you weren’t going for so long,’ she said.

‘You and Amy will handle everything fine,’ Kent promised.

‘That’s not why.’

‘I know.’

They kissed, and he gently slid her hands down from around his collar. He interlaced their fingers and squeezed gently before letting her hands go.

‘I have to go,’ he muttered, taking half a step back.

‘I know,’ Sue said and took her own half a step back.

‘Okay,’ he said.

‘Okay,’ she said.

‘So…’ Kent said.

‘Right,’ Sue said, and brushed a few strands of hair out of his eyes.

He smiled slightly. ‘Right. Okay. I’ll call.’

‘Good.’ Sue said.

‘Love you.’

He froze as soon as the words left his mouth. She saw his entire body tense. She felt herself do the same. Then he took a deep breath. ‘I-’

Sue covered his mouth with her hand. ‘No justification. No explanation. No excuses.’

He nodded silently. Sue dropped her hand and kissed him chastely.

‘Love you,’ she said. ‘Go. Come back soon.’

 

 

The look she got from Ben was not one to grace anyone’s photo album.

‘The fuck is wrong with you?’ he demanded.

‘Excuse me?’

He was sweating, hard, and his neck was red and looked inflamed. Whatever he thought was wrong with her, he seemed about to keel over.

‘Kent has gone off to D.C. and you look like the cat that got the canary! Try to be professional, for fuck’s sake, we’re fighting for our lives here.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘I am always professional. If you would care to continue addressing me in that disrespectful and abusive manner, I would be glad to discuss the issue with my representative present.’ She folded her hands on the desk. ‘We are all under a great of pressure, but I am not your punching bag. Kindly remember that.’

Ben deflated. ‘Christ, I’m glad you didn’t dump me. I’d slit my wrists. No wonder Kent ran off to D.C.’

He shambled away and Sue was hopeful she could continue with her work. It was a hope squashed by Amy. She stood by Sue’s desk and hissed at her.

‘He has a fucking point! We just started this thing, and Kent has fucked off to D.C.! What are we supposed to do?’

‘What we agreed. We are resourceful and capable women. We do not need Kent to hold our hands.’ Although she would not have turned down his hand at that moment.

Amy shook her head. ‘I think I’m getting a fucking ulcer.’

She sighed. ‘If Selina wins the presidency then you will be dealing with issues potentially causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. If not more. You need to grab your ovaries and woman up.’

 

 

The crate story blew up quickly and Quincy’s "expose" shortly after. It was deeply embarrassing and Selina took it much harder than Sue expected. Privately, Sue suspected it was not only stress, but also the fact that he was correct. Selina had no option to throw anyone under the bus when she was at least equally culpable, if not the worst party. A bitter blow for a career politician.

After Selina’s tirade they all went out for a drink at a nearby bar.

‘I notice Mr. Crate hasn’t been called back for a chewing out,’ Ben said bitterly. ‘That started off this whole fucking mess.’

Amy threw back her cocktail and ordered another. ‘Crate-fucking-grate was nothing. Quincy’s write up on the contributor codes screwed us exactly enough.’

Dan frowned. ‘Enough for what?’

‘Enough to... send Selina into a screaming fit!’ Amy said quickly. ‘God, she’s fucking unpleasant when she’s in that mood.’

Mike surfaced from his beer. ‘You’ve seen her like that before?’

‘Oh, I have,’ Ben offered. ‘A bunch of times, last time during her divorce when she and Andrew were forced to campaign together. One day she just lost it.’ Ben drained his drink. ‘She was just roaming around screaming at people. Andrew just walked off. Catherine just rolled her eyes. A couple of campaign workers started crying.’ He started to chuckle. ‘The best one was when I first met her, years ago. That was a real temper tantrum, she started throwing everything on her damn desk. Kent told her to grow the fuck up. I think it was the shock of hearing him say "fuck” that shut her down.’

‘Yeah, right,’ Dan snorted.

‘What the fuck does that mean?’ Ben asked.

Dan raised an eyebrow. ‘Come on, we all know.’

‘What do we all know?’ Gary asked.

Dan rolled his eyes. ‘You know _everything_ about Selina, Gary. Don’t tell me you’re all innocent her and Kent.’

‘What are you babbling about?’ Mike asked.

Dan shrugged. ‘We all know they’ve fucked. Hell, they’ve probably done it since he came back.’

Gary dropped his glass of wine and it shattered on the floor. He and Mike rushed to clean it up.

‘Who the fuck told you that?’ Ben demanded.

Dan snickered. ‘Come _on,_ Ben, I’ve got eyes. It’s pretty fucking obvious. We’ve all seen the way she stares at his ass.’

‘Jesus Christ on a fucking cracker, is this what you spend all day thinking about?’ Ben asked.

‘She does stare at his ass,’ Mike muttered.

Dan took a gulp of his drink and pointed at Ben. ‘We both know that nobody hates like a woman who’s been fucked hard and put away wet.’

‘Don’t talk about her like that!’ Gary protested. ‘That is… completely disgusting and you should not talk about her that way!’

‘Like what? The woman is not a nun,’ Dan retorted.

Gary took a deep breath as he carefully placed the glass fragments, wrapped in napkins, on the bar. ‘I’m sure that Kent is very… smart but he is just not in Selina’s league.’

‘Uh oh,’ Amy said, glancing at Sue. ‘Fighting words.’

‘Yeah, Gary, are you saying that Selina is a whole league more attractive than Sue?’ Mike asked.

Gary paled slightly as Sue raised an eyebrow.

‘I think we can all agree that he was punching above his weight with you, Sue,’ he said gallantly.

Sue took a sip of her drink. ‘Stick to kissing Selina’s ass,’ she said.

‘Look, what they may or may not have done in the past is beyond the fucking point and we sure as shit shouldn’t be speculating on it in public,’ Ben said.

Sue pursed her lips and glanced away. The conversation was careering horrifically out of control but she couldn’t think of any way to take charge of it without spurring speculation about her relationship with Kent. Not that it was going to be avoidable if Dan was already speculating about Selina.

‘It’s not true,’ Gary insisted.

‘Oh, it so is fucking true,’ Amy snapped.

‘I knew it!’ Dan crowed. ‘What’ve you heard?’

‘Selina says he’s great at head,’ Amy said, pulling a face.

Ben waved frantically for another round of drinks.

‘Head what?’ Gary asked suspiciously.

 ‘Amy means oral, you fucktard,’ Dan retorted.

‘He likes to talk about it?’ Gary asked. ‘I don’t see that would prove anything.’

‘Your poor girlfriends,’ Dan said.

‘Glass fucking houses,’ Amy muttered.

Ben downed his drink. ‘Wouldn’t the beard get in the way?’ he wondered.

‘No,’ said Sue, feeling a little remiss in his defence. She was certain if the situation had been reversed he would have simply shut the topic down.

Everyone else stared at her.

‘No, what?’ Ben asked.

‘No, the beard does not get in the way.’ Sue drained her whiskey. ‘It produces a pleasant sensation not unlike a light tickle.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘Frankly, Ben, I would expect that sort of question from Dan.’

Ben reddened and muttered something.

‘I don’t understand,’ Gary said doubtfully.

Mike pulled him aside and whispered in his ear.

‘So _you_ knew,’ Dan said. ‘You knew he and Selina-’

‘Of course I knew. I know that it happened and that it was purely a one-time event.’ Sue crossed her legs. ‘I think we should change the subject.’

‘Sure,’ Dan said, and grinned. ‘What kind of a lay is he?’

‘Oh for fuck’s sake,’ Ben muttered.

Sue looked Dan in the eye. ‘Give it up, Dan, he would rather sleep with _Jonah_ than with you.’

 

 

She met Kent at the airport as they waited for Jerry and his family. He was looking drawn but brightened when he saw her. ‘Ben tells me you’ve been astonishingly indiscreet.’

Sue sighed as they sat down. ‘Amy was indiscreet and Dan was prurient. I merely attempted to prevent you from gaining an underserved reputation for sexually ineptitude.’

Kent frowned slightly. ‘My beard tickles?’

‘Why is he telling you that when he’s supposed to hate you?’

‘Probably an attempt to passive-aggressively make me feel terrible.’ Kent played with the hem of her skirt. ‘He’s not pleased that I was called back and he wasn’t.’

‘I’m not sure. He also attempted to scold me for appearing too happy when you were called away,’ Sue said, and shrugged. ‘How’s Joanna?’

He sighed. ‘She’s a terrible person, a waste of breath and flesh, and we’d all be better off if she died tomorrow.’ He paused. ‘Her opinion. I hope that was obvious.’

‘Not really.’

‘Ah.’ He scanned her face. ‘Ben said Selina had a meltdown.’

‘Not at me. I wasn’t there,’ Sue said.

‘That’s a weight off my mind,’ he said.

 

 

It was a quiet flight. Jerry’s kids were both engrossed in their iPads, Jerry was napping, and Kent had slipped out to the ‘head’.

‘So you’re Kent’s young lady?’ Allison asked, giving Sue the sort of nosily friendly look that had “family” written all over it. Fairly impressive for an in-law.

‘I’m not sure how legitimately I can claim "young" anymore,’ Sue said.

‘Especially not in the deep south,’ Allison said, ‘if two different people don’t ask me when I’m going to be a grandma, I will astonished.’

‘They sound like my family,’ Sue observed. ‘Kent is concerned there will be a number of offensive comments aimed at me.’

‘Oh? Oh!’ Allison wrinkled up her nose. ‘He’s probably right. They offend me every time and that’s just because I’m from the north.’

‘Good to know.’

 Kent returned from the toilet and sat back down next to Sue.

‘Although, everyone will probably be far too busy gossiping about Lucas’s son,’ Allison said.

‘What son?’ Kent asked, frowning.

Allison waggled her eyebrows at Sue. ‘See, my point exactly.’

‘Am I finally going to meet the infamous Lucas?’ Sue asked, looking at Kent.

‘Not if we can humanly avoid it,’ he snorted.

Allison chuckled. ‘Jerry says if Lucas comes within fifty feet of Olivia then he’s going to borrow Jack’s gun.’

Kent snorted. ‘I know the feeling, but I think even Lucas might consider her a little too young.’

Allison rolled her eyes. ‘If you were us, would you risk it?’

 

 

‘Is Jackson going to be here?’ Sue asked as they deplaned.

‘Wrong side of the family,’ Jerry said behind them. ‘Best not to mention him at the funeral.’

‘Urgh,’ Olivia said loudly. ‘God forbid that the only guy remotely fun actually be there.’

‘It’s a funeral, honey,’ Allison said, ‘you’re not supposed to have fun.’

Kent paused at the bottom of the steps to offer Sue his hand as she stepped down. ‘It’s not too late to change your mind,’ he said to her.

‘I never say die,’ Sue said firmly. She was a little nervous in truth, which only served to make her more determined. Her little black dress was possibly a little too stylish for a funeral although Allison and Olivia were both wearing very fashionable ensembles. She had been torn about her shoes but Kent had sheepishly admitted that the wake might go on for hours. She swallowed her pride and had put on a pair of pumps that were less attractive but far kinder on her feet.

 

 

They arrived at the church as most of the guests were finding seats and sitting down. The right side of the church was completely filled while the left side was only sporadically spotted with mourners. The priest was making meaningful noises and shuffling his notes, nonetheless Kent found a seat with Sue and then hurried over to a tiny, elegantly dressed elderly woman, and kissed her on her cheek. Sue wondered if she should have gone with him, but then he loped back and sat on the other side of her.

‘Have I missed my opportunity to meet your mother?’ Sue asked.

‘At the wake,’ he promised. ‘The last thing we want to do right now is draw attention by being the last to sit down.’

They were attracting enough attention as it was. Sue put it out of her mind as they stood up to sing.

There was a large bang as the doors were thrown open, and a harassed-looking man in his early thirties entered, wrestling with a toddler.

There was a susurration of gossip from the other side of the church. Sue turned to face the harassed man, who was looking for a seat. He met her eyes and glanced hopefully at the empty seats next to her.

Sue sighed. She disliked children, particularly those at that junction between ambulatory and entirely undisciplined. On the other hand, those vicious little ladies whispering away was truly, deeply annoying.

She silently indicated to the seats and returned to the hymn sheet. After a few moments she heard him put the toddler down on the floor and tell her to read her book. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kent lean forward to catch the other man’s eye.

After a few seconds she heard an outraged gasp. Turning quickly she saw that her new pew-mate was flipping the gossipy old ladies the bird. When he turned back he caught her eye. He reddened slightly and then shrugged shamefacedly.

  

 

The toddler’s name was Katie, and she was refreshingly absorbed in her books. She propped herself up against her father’s legs and, apart from the odd soft burble to herself, she was pleasingly quiet. Nonetheless Sue had shifted slightly away and saw no reason to move any closer.

When the service ended and people started queuing to pay their respects to the corpse, Katie’s father turned to Sue.

‘Hey, I’m Scott.’

‘Sue.’  

Scott looked past her to Kent. ‘Hey. This your girlfriend?’

‘Good to see you, Scott,’ Kent said. He inclined his towards Katie. ‘First time I’ve seen you since…’

‘Eh, kids, man. Planning is just a joke.’ Scott ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I’d have been here an hour earlier but we had diaper _issues_.’

Kent lowered his voice slightly. ‘Funerals can be difficult.’

Scott snorted. ‘Had occurred to me, yeah.’ He looked across at the line approaching the coffin. ‘Do me a favor and watch the terror for ten minutes while I go pay my respects? Katie’s comfy down there and I do _not_ want her going all “Sybil” because I dragged her over there.’

Kent stiffened slightly but nodded. ‘Sure.’

‘Great.’ Scott gently disentangled his leg from Katie. ‘The evil-minded distant aunties already hate me enough without giving them more of a reason.’

When he had wandered away Sue informed Kent of his impromptu sign language display.

‘Sounds like him,’ Kent said, straightening his jacket.

Sue noticed that Scott was still attracting whispers and stares. ‘Why does he arouse such dislike from those charming individuals?’

Kent shrugged. ‘Partly because he’s ill-mannered and anti-social most of the time. Partly because, to their minds, he wasn’t sufficiently “humbled” by his wife’s death or having to raise Katie by himself.’

‘Does anyone in your family not have a tragedy?’ Sue asked.

‘Does anyone in any family?’

Sue flicked a lock of hair behind her ear. ‘Is that what you meant about funerals being difficult?’

Kent shrugged. ‘We look for patterns and repetitions. Shapes in clouds and faces in wallpaper. Funerals remind us of funerals. It’s human nature to avoid those things, those situations, and those people who remind us of our own private misfortunes.’

Katie seemed to notice that her father had disappeared. Her lower lip started to quiver as she looked around.

‘She’s going to cry,’ Sue said.

Kent looked down. ‘Maybe you should pick her up.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘Why should _I_ be the one to pick her up?’

‘You’re standing closer.’

‘By approximately two inches,’ she said. ‘She’s your relative.’

Katie looked up and held up her arms.

‘You offered them the seats,’ Kent said quickly.

‘I have very little experience with children,’ Sue said.

Kent pursed his lips. ‘So you have a clean slate. All of my experiences are uniformly negative.’

Sue rolled her eyes. ‘She’s your relative.’

‘You said that already.’

Katie whined and bounced up and down.

‘Yes,’ Sue said, ‘because it’s at least twice as important as any of your reasons. Pick up the poor little thing.’

‘I hate children,’ Kent grumbled as he scooped her up. He tensed as he held her against his chest, but held her securely.

‘Hate or fear?’ Sue inquired.

He gave her an odd look. ‘Definitely hate.’

Katie twisted in his arms as she looked about.

‘Your daddy is over there,’ Kent said, pointing out Scott from the back. ‘Don’t be melodramatic.’

Katie looked at him with her huge brown eyes, and slid the corner of her book into her mouth.

Sue licked her lips. ‘Mr. Davison, did you just tell a small child not to be melodramatic?’

‘She’s not crying.’

‘That is certainly true.’ Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘Perhaps she is filled with existential confusion over being advised not to be melodramatic.’

Kent carefully put the toddler down and she wrapped herself around his leg. ‘Isn’t it a little soon for us to be bickering over childcare methods?’

Sue straightened his lapel. ‘Since we are unlikely to have much other opportunity it would be remiss of us not to bicker.’

 

 

The wake was held in a huge, civil war era house set in its own grounds. Under other circumstances Sue would have felt ambivalent about being there. There was history there, and she suspected much of it was deeply unpleasant.

‘Don’t let Aunt Rose start telling you about the renovations,’ Kent murmured to her. ‘Every time I set foot here I get a lecture about the terrible state it was in when they bought it and how much it cost.’

‘It’s a recent purchase?’ Sue asked, feeling oddly relieved.

‘Relatively, about thirty years or so.’

Most of the mourners had made it from the church to the wake, along with several families with small children. Sue noticed several of the apparently ubiquitous old ladies staring and making loud, rude comments about the newcomers.

They stopped abruptly when a man she didn’t know swaggered across the room. He had the air of a man for who swaggering was entirely habitual. He looked to be in his early forties, his mahogany colored hair was collar length at the back, and he was wearing a black suit with a waistcoat but no tie. Sue frowned slightly, was he wearing cowboy boots? Cowboy boots at a wake. Perhaps that explained the sudden tension in the air, or perhaps it was the giggling and blushing that seemed to break out in various women, and several men, around them. One of the men, who seemed not so much dazed as severely concussed, had been introduced to her as “Pepper”, the partner of one of Kent’s distant cousins.

‘Who’s that?’ Sue asked.

‘Lucas,’ Kent growled. It wasn’t very loud but it was enough apparently for the notorious Lucas to hear and to turn around. ‘Damn.’

The other man turned around, looked her up and down, and made absolutely no pretense that he didn’t like what he saw. He was certainly handsome and he had enough arrogance to power a nuclear generator. Sue wouldn’t have trusted him if the world was burning and he was the only man with a hose. She took Kent’s hand as Lucas strutted across towards them.

‘Well hey there, look who has come to honor us with his presence,’ Lucas drawled. He had a rich southern accent that curled around his words but didn’t quite soften the sarcasm.

‘Lucas,’ Kent muttered.

‘Ain’t you going to introduce me to your friend?’ Lucas prompted. He caught Sue’s eye and gave a theatrical sigh. ‘I can’t imagine what you’re thinking of us all if this is an example of the level of courtesy that you’ve come to expect.’

Kent gave Sue a look. ‘Lucas, Sue. Sue, Lucas.’

‘Charmer, ain’t he?’ Lucas said, taking Sue’s offered hand and kissing her knuckles.

‘When he has cause,’ Sue said, rather amused despite herself.

‘Where’s _your_ partner?’ Kent asked.

Lucas shrugged idly. ‘Which one?’

 

 

‘Who’re you texting?’ Kent asked.

‘Amy. I want to tell her that I met him.’ Sue frowned slightly at her cell. ‘She still blushes when he’s mentioned.’

‘Why would he be mentioned?’

Sue looked up. There was a certain tightness to Kent’s expression. ‘Is this your jealous face?’

‘Congratulations, I know you’ve been wanting to see it.’

Sue noticed that his fingers were gripping the glass so tightly that they had blanched. ‘Don’t be sarcastic with me.’

Kent glanced away for a moment, as he gathered himself. ‘You were flirting.’

‘It didn’t mean anything.’ It was not a sensible thing to say, Sue knew that. She couldn’t blame him for being annoyed. She _shouldn’t_ blame him for being annoyed.

‘It meant something to me,’ he said biting off the words.

She thought she should apologize. She meant to apologize. ‘He was amusing,’ she said instead. ‘He was the one who started-’

‘I’m not dating _him_ ,’ Kent growled.

Sue shifted slightly. They had already attracted unpleasant attention but now there was also the frank curiosity of people watching strangers row.

‘Nothing would have happened,’ she said, more soothingly. ‘I didn’t take it seriously.’

‘No woman takes his flirting seriously until they suddenly find themselves in bed with him,’ he said.  

‘Not me,’ she said.

‘Oh, because you’re so different.’

Sue took a deep breath and kept her temper. Objecting to his tone again wouldn’t help. The jealousy and sarcasm were unpleasant but what really irritated her was that she _had_ flirted. It was brief and it had been meaningless but that didn’t matter.

She looked Kent in the eye. ‘I would never do that to you.’

‘I didn’t think you’d ever stand in front of me and flirt with someone,’ he snapped.

Sue slipped her hand into his. ‘Would you like me to resolve never to flirt with him again?’

Kent scowled into his drink. ‘Now you’re making me feel imbecilic.’

‘That was never my intention.’ Sue straightened his tie with her free hand. ‘Sorry,’ she said softly.  

‘For what?’

‘For flirting.’ She waited until he looked at her. ‘I didn’t even like the man.’

He relaxed a fraction. ‘You’re not the first and I’m sure that you won’t be the last.’

‘I wouldn’t cheat on you, Kent,’ Sue said. ‘Not even if George Clooney were in front of me.’

That made him snort a laugh and he relaxed a little more. ‘That is indeed reassuring.’

Sue kissed his cheek. ‘Should a miracle occur and Marcia Cross or Angela Bassett appear in front of us at some point, I hope to show suitable restraint if you flirt with them.’

Kent raised his eyebrows. ‘Hmm, that is unlikely to be an issue. As you’re all too aware, I have certain difficulties appropriately expressing admiration for women I respect.’ He slipped his arm around her waist. ‘Nonetheless, I appreciate the sentiment.’

‘Certain people are most unimpressed with this display of affection,’ Sue said, leaning against him.

‘Certain people are welcome to come over here and register their complaints.’ He looked at her. ‘Would you like me to say something?’

‘Not right now,’ Sue said primly. ‘I think to begin with I should fight my own battles with your family.’

Kent suddenly threw back his drink and set the glass down carefully. ‘Here’s your big moment, my mother is approaching.’

Sue took a deep breath and put down her own glass. Her palms were suddenly sweating.

Caitlyn Davison seemed built to a smaller scale than most other people. She barely came up to Kent’s chest and her hands were hardly half the size of Sue’s. She moved like a bird and her eyes were clear and bright, despite her age.

‘The famous Sue that none of us has heard enough about,’ she said, offering Sue her hand.

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ma’am. I wish it was under happier circumstances,’ Sue said.

Caitlyn waved her hand. ‘At my age funerals are the only thing to which I’m invited.’ She slipped her arm through Sue’s. ‘Shoo, Kent, I want to interrogate your partner.’

‘You’ve only just met,’ he protested.

‘Yes. That’s why I want to talk to her.’ Caitlyn looked at Sue. ‘ _Men_.’

Sue might have smiled, if she had been less nervous. When Kent looked at her in mute query she gave him a tiny shrug.

‘Please play nicely,’ he said.

‘Which of us are you addressing?’ Sue asked.

‘Both.’  

 

 

There were looks. That was nothing new, sadly, but it was uncommon for someone else to glare on her behalf.

‘These people,’ Caitlyn muttered, shaking her head. ‘They’re living in the nineteenth century and they’re proud of it.’ She led Sue into the corner of the music room. ‘We’re all a little bit racist deep down, but most of us have the decency to be appropriately ashamed of it and of ourselves.’

‘Are we?’

Caitlyn looked up at her. ‘They’ve done studies. Double blind scientific studies.’

Sue wasn’t sure entirely how seriously to take the older woman. She suspected strongly that Caitlyn’s sense of humor was even drier, and possibly rather darker, than Kent’s. ‘Mrs. Davison, I believe that you are attempting to irk me.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘I work in Washington. I have an extremely high tolerance for vexation.’

Caitlyn smiled impishly. ‘That sounds like a challenge.’

‘Mrs. Davison, I haven’t seen Kent in several days and, once we return, I won’t see him again for several days. If you wish to interrogate me as to my intentions, please do so. If you wish to threaten me, this is your free shot. If, however, you simply wish to amuse yourself at my expense, then I am leaving.’

Caitlyn took a sip of her drink. ‘Why would I threaten you? Not to mention _how_ I would threaten you.’

Sue raised her eyebrow. ‘Kent is your son and you’re concerned, I understand and appreciate that. If I was in your position, I’m sure I would be concerned that he had got mixed up with some gold-digger or other predator.’

‘Goodness, do you think that he’s stupid enough to get mixed up with a gold-digger?’ Her tone was a perfect blend of surprise and innocence.

Sue had to admire the artistry of it. She wasn’t _surprised_ but she was perhaps a little disappointed. ‘Mrs. Davison, I’m sure that we both know that loneliness and social isolation can be more significant vulnerabilities than simple stupidity. The stupid man may be misled by a predator but a man who wants to believe misleads himself.’

Caitlyn sighed. ‘It’s different for boys. Culturally, not genetically. Even now as girls are once again being pressured to be passive, emotional, and _fluffy_ ; boys are pressured to suppress their emotions and to form only the shallowest social connections.’ She bent down to pet a giant ginger cat that was wandering past.

‘My mother would have strangled me in the crib if she thought I was going to grow up to be “fluffy”,’ Sue said, relaxing slightly.

Caitlyn straightened up. ‘I would have been terribly surprised if you had turned out to be a fuzzy bunny sort of a girl.’ She smiled sardonically. ‘Although the juxtaposition would have been fascinating.’

‘Unlikely, certainly. I have met Charlie.’

‘Oh dear. Poor girl.’ Caitlyn shook her head. ‘No-one should outlive their child.’

Too late, Sue remembered that Kent’s eldest sister had passed away from cancer.

Caitlyn held up a hand. ‘Not a word.’

‘No, Ma’am,’ Sue said, relieved there was evidently to be no trite or cliché “bonding moment”.

‘I’m not concerned that you’re a gold-digger. Kent says you’re quite paranoid about fiscal equality,’ Caitlyn said, rolling her eyes. ‘He’s still rather old fashioned in some ways. He does _try_ , but he can be somewhat paternalistic at least as far as spending money is concerned. It comes of having no other outlet to express himself.’

‘You’re underestimating him,’ Sue said flatly.

‘Oh, I do hope so.’ Caitlyn patted Sue’s hand. ‘He’s my youngest. Oldest and youngest are always special.’

 

 

Sue expected to find him in the main room with everyone else but she couldn’t see him. Caitlyn had been suddenly stricken the need to “powder her nose”, a euphemism that Sue hadn’t thought existed outside of “Archie” comics and Doris Day movies. Apparently a sudden and frequent need to pass euphemisms was one of the hazards of extreme maturity.

‘Excuse me, Ma’am, might I pass you by?’

Sue looked around and then down. She was being addressed by a neatly attired, somber-looking boy of about ten or eleven. He had a deep, Southern accent, huge brown eyes and a buzz cut.

‘Certainly.’ Sue stepped aside to let him get to the buffet table. ‘I don’t suppose you know where Kent Davison is?’

‘Happen he was in the garden a little whiles ago.’ The boy piled food onto two plates. ‘You think this is the kind of thing a little girl would want to eat? She’s toddling age. I offered her daddy to get her some food.’

‘This is for Katie?’ Sue checked.

‘Yes Ma’am.’ He frowned as he looked at the plates. ‘It’s mostly mushy food on account of her not having much in the way of teeth.’

‘That seems wise.’ Sue felt a certain pang of sympathy for him and his terribly serious manner. ‘Do you have drinks?’

‘Oh.’ He tried to juggle the plates into one hand.

‘Let me.’ Sue reached past him to pick up two paper cups. ‘What do you want to drink?’

He smiled shyly. ‘That’s real kind of you, Ma’am. A root beer, please. Maybe an apple juice for Katie?’

‘All right then. Where is she?’

‘In the fort in the garden,’ he said. ‘Her daddy’s nearby. He’s having a row with Lucas.’ He shook his head. ‘I only been his son official a little while and already I know he ain’t got a single relative who wants anything but to argue with him about something.’ He shrugged. ‘But if you come out I can show you where I saw Cousin Kent.’

‘You’re on first name terms?’ Sue asked, following him towards the door. ‘I didn’t tell you mine.’

‘I didn’t tell you mine neither. We’ll like spies or something,’ he said, with a nascent grin. ‘Nah, I’m just kidding. I’m Caleb Temple.’

‘Sue Wilson.’

‘You here with Cousin Kent, Miss Wilson?’ Caleb asked curiously. ‘You ain’t the kind of lady I’d expect.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘In what way?’

‘Well, I’m having a conversation with you. Try talking to him and he just kinda grunts.’ Caleb shrugged. ‘Not that I’m saying it’s a bad thing. Lucas’d talk the hind leg off a donkey and I can’t rightly claim he ever said nothing that weren’t entirely for his own benefit.’

Sue nodded. ‘Kent isn’t very comfortable around… youngsters.’

‘You can say children, I ain’t got a problem with the word.’ Caleb stepped out into the garden. ‘Lucas told me Cousin Kent is scared half to death of kids on account of his baby dying.’ Caleb looked up at her. ‘Seems like that’d make anyone kinda weird around kids.’

They walked over to the large wooden fort under the trees. Outside she saw Scott gesturing angrily at Lucas, whose body language was as casual as ever.

‘Hey,’ Scott said, when he noticed her. ‘You looking for Kent?’

‘I am.’

‘Damn, Caleb,’ Lucas said lightly, ‘you’re supposed to be fetching food not picking up pretty ladies. Have you been properly introduced?’

‘We have, your son is remarkably courteous,’ Sue said, ignoring Lucas’s flirtatious manner.

He looked her right in the eye and she felt a little shiver of something flit up her spine. ‘Well, Ma’am, we in the South believe in instilling manners and etiquette into all our children.’

 Scott snorted. ‘Like you had a damn thing to do with it.’

‘I had no desire to shame his momma or embarrass Gage, now did I?’ Lucas said magnanimously. ‘It ain’t like I had him adopted and then changed my mind is it?’

Scott prickled visibly. Sue could imagine a fistfight breaking out in short order.

‘Gentlemen, I’m looking for Kent?’ she prompted.

Lucas pushed his hair back with his hand. ‘Course you are, Ma’am. Who was he with?’ At her blank look he elaborated. ‘His momma, one of his sisters, Jack maybe?’

‘I think he was on his own.’

There was a look exchanged between the two men. It lasted barely a fraction of a second but that was long enough for Sue’s stomach to clench.

‘Uh, you left him on his own at a wake?’ Scott asked. ‘He don’t do well with ‘em, not since…’

‘His mother wanted to talk with me,’ she said, shifting her feet.

‘She should know better,’ Scott muttered.

Lucas narrowed his eyes for a moment as if he was thinking. ‘He’s most likely just sitting by himself and brooding, Ma’am. Probably in the old rose garden. Just follow the path around. Won’t be able to miss him.’

 

Sue wasn’t entirely sure what she hoped not to find. She followed the narrow cracked path as it wound around the house. The grounds were lovely and well-tended but she barely noticed them except that weren’t rose gardens. As she turned a corner she saw a pretty sea of roses of all colors. They circled an antique looking set of children’s play equipment.

Kent was on the worn and rather battered swing set. He wasn’t swinging, which would have been somewhat alarming, but was simply sat staring at nothing. That was concerning in a different way. Sue walked across the garden and sat down on the swing next to him, crossing her ankles neatly. If she strained she could just about hear the chatter from the house. Kent didn’t react to her arrival and for a long moment she wasn’t sure if he’d registered her presence.

‘Kent, what’re you doing?’

‘I was thinking,’ he said, ‘when I die, how many people will come to my funeral? Hardly any.’

‘Cheery,’ Sue said dryly.

‘I don’t mean people there because they feel they have to be, or to make sure I’m really dead, or to be seen. I mean who genuinely care.’

Sue looked at him. He sounded honestly curious, and that was somehow worse than if he sounded upset.

‘A great many people,’ she said. ‘You have a large family. You have friends.’

He snorted. ‘Family members are motivated by a sense of obligation. I don’t have friends.’

Sue sighed. She had never seen him in this mood before, but it was far from unfamiliar to her. ‘You’re feeling sorry for yourself.’

‘Nobody else would.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Jerry would come to your funeral, not out of obligation but because he loves you. Joanna would certainly come, even if I had to drag her, and POTUS.’ She gently nudged his foot with hers. ‘Malcolm would kick down the door if he wasn’t invited.’

That almost made him smile. ‘I don’t count people who want to dance on my grave. So no Ben either.’

‘Why do so many men have friends they pretend to hate?’ she wondered.

‘Why do so many women pretend to be friends with people they loathe?’

‘Good point,’ she said. She saw his hand lightly holding the chain and put her own over it. ‘I’d be there.’

The corner of his mouth quirked up briefly. ‘You probably killed me,’ he said, trying to sound more cheerful.

‘Possibly, but I’d still be there, because I’d get away with it.’ She couldn’t tell if he smiled at that. ‘Charlie, as well, and goodness knows what other former partners you have hidden. Oh, and your former NSA colleagues. You thought I didn’t know about those.’ She was pleased with that as it spurred him to look at her. ‘Charlie told me that working for the NSA was how you and she first met.’

Kent harrumphed and returned to staring at nothing. ‘A lesser man might find it unnerving that his current partner is on good enough terms with one of his previous partners to have a discussion of that nature.’

‘Then it is fortunate that you are not a lesser man,’ Sue said tartly.

He was quiet for a handful of seconds. ‘Charlie wouldn’t come,’ he said. ‘A funeral with my family in attendance would have too many memories.’

Sue could have kicked herself. He had practically _said_ that it was reminding him of another funeral. Why hadn’t she considered when he asked Scott if it reminded him of his wife? She squeezed him hand. He didn’t look at her but after a moment he stroked his thumb over the back of her hand.

‘When we buried Matty the church was full,’ he said. ‘People think that it’s respectful or supportive. I don’t know. Charlie had no idea who was there. She barely knew I was there. It was partly the sedatives. People imagine that you don’t hear them whispering but churches are all marble and tile and hard surfaces. A whisper in the silence sounds like a shout. A sob sounds like a scream. Maybe they didn’t care. They dress up in black and they send condolences and then they sit there and judge.’’

‘They’re idiots,’ Sue said.

 Kent gave her a small smile but shook his head. ‘You can’t both... someone has to keep their head. To make the decisions. Besides, everyone expects the mother to be worst affected. Fathers are window dressing until adolescence. That’s what people think. That babies are the province of their mother.’

Sue shook her head. ‘He was yours as much as hers.’

 ‘I didn’t know him. He was a person. He was just waiting to find out if he liked sports, or science, or if he enjoyed music or cinema. Possibilities. Did he have a temper? Was he funny? I don’t know. Nobody knows.’

Sue slipped from the swing and stood between his legs. She cupped his face and kissed him.

‘He wasn’t known. But he was loved.’

Kent pulled her close, wrapped his arms around her waist, and rested his face against her. ‘You’re wonderful.’

‘You only say that because you have a face full of my breasts,’ Sue said.

He chuckled. ‘They are impressive.’


	20. Chapter 20

 

 

 

On the flight back Sue found herself thinking about funerals and wakes. She had been called back early to deal with a problem at work and Amy told her she was missing the best, or worst, part. Missing the heavy drinking, the drunken stumbling, and the tearful declarations. She’s heard that’s how it’s sometimes done, in Catholic families, but she’s never been to one before. She’s never really been to any kind of social gathering after a funeral before. There wasn’t one for her father. She doesn’t remember much of the funeral. There were a lot of people there and it felt like most of them told her she was brave not to cry. She’d never quite understood that logic. If she’d cried, if she’d felt like crying, would that have made her a coward?

Kent gently pushed a pristine handkerchief into her hand. She looked at it. She looked at him.

‘I don’t know what’s wrong,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what you need.’

Sue dried her eyes. ‘I was thinking about my dad.’

‘Ah.’

‘I have photographs. I have some letters that he wrote but that’s all.’ Sue neatly folded up the handkerchief. ‘I remember very little.’

‘You loved him or you wouldn’t cry.’

‘This is not an appropriate moment for logic,’ she said.

‘Copy that.’

He held her hand, just held in between his, and that was better. Across the aisle she someone glance across and their expression grew ugly. She was too tired to deal with the kind of person who would do that. Too tired to glare back. She smiled instead and hoped his hate ate a hole in his gut.

 

Sue had been a little disappointed to be called back to D.C., the food was a close second to the novelty of the company, but Kent had seemed happy for an excuse to leave.

‘Are you embarrassed of your family?’ she asked as they were preparing to part.

‘Isn’t everyone?’ 

It was a fair point, she had to admit. Things had been more than a touch strained between herself and her mother since the disastrous dinner. Kent had asked how her family had felt about her previous partner and she’d been compelled to admit that they hadn’t met him. It had never seemed pressing, which she now realized was a tacit subconscious admission that she had known that it wasn’t serious.

After she’d dealt with the nonsense at the office, something almost anyone could have dealt with, she decided to treat herself to a coffee and a cake at the Literati café. It was a surprise when she opened the door to the café and saw Charlie hiding in one of the large, leather armchairs. Charlie was nursing a rich hot chocolate in a delicate china cup and toying with a tiny slice of toffee and orange cheesecake. Sue watched Charlie notice her and her eyes widened almost comically. It was, Sue realized, the first time she had seen Charlie genuinely startled.

‘I thought you were at the wake!’

‘We were,’ Sue said, ‘I was called back.’

Charlie recovered her manners enough to offer Sue a seat and, by the time Sue had purchased a hazelnut cappuccino and a blueberry and vanilla scone, Charlie had also regained her composure. 

‘So how did you enjoy meeting the massed ranks of the family?’ she asked.

‘It was illuminating,’ Sue said. ‘We flew down with Jerry and his family.’

‘Allison is a honey don’t you think? She posted on Facebook about the wake, that’s how I knew.’

Sue spooned sugar into her coffee. ‘I didn’t ask,’ she said. ‘Guilty conscience?’

Charlie laughed lightly. ‘I heard it said that conscience was just the fear of getting caught.’

‘How wonderfully cynical.’

‘You work in politics,’ Charlie said dryly.

‘Touché.’ Sue took a sip of coffee. ‘Why are you here? Surely this is in no way convenient for your office.’

‘Been checking up on me, huh? Well, I can’t say as I blame you. You’re right of course. I’ve been getting interrogated in committee again, gosh it’s _dull_. They never have any new questions.’ Charlie waved a hand. ‘They drag me in every time something hits the news, me and my counterparts at the other agencies.’ She shrugged. ‘I don’t usually come in here, I will admit. Kent likes his little treats too much for me to risk it.’

Sue sat back in her chair. ‘Two women eating cakes talking about someone else having a sweet tooth.’

‘What’s the point of sitting gossiping in a coffee shop if we can’t be terrible hypocrites about it?’ Charlie asked.

‘It makes a change from being a terrible hypocrite at work,’ Sue said. She licked her lips. ‘So you’re avoiding him?’

‘Honey, I can live quite happily without my stomach tying itself up in a series of knots just when I’m trying to relax.’

‘Your breakup sounds horrendous,’ Sue observed.

Charlie sipped her coffee. ‘You mean everything you’ve heard makes you think I turned into a raging psychopath.’

‘Ben thinks so, and Amy,’ Sue agreed. ‘Kent says you were under intolerable stress.’

‘I doubt either of us was much fit for human company,’ Charlie said. ‘I honestly thought he’d be relieved. I didn’t have it in me to leave and he didn’t see any need.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘So insulting, as if being the only one in love wasn’t insult enough. I already have a brother, I didn’t need to be dating a surrogate one. We both blamed him for what happened and he’d have done just about anything to assuage that guilt even a little. I didn’t think that he’d…’ She shook her head. ‘I thought he’d be relieved to have an excuse to leave. If I’d been thinking clearly I’d have never done it. If I’d known much it’d hurt him I’d have never done it.’

‘You cheated on him,’ Sue said flatly.

‘I have no excuse,’ Charlie said. ‘I won’t pretend that I do. I feel wretched about it but it happened. Regrets make us human.’

Sue shook her head. ‘You behaved as if you were the one wronged.’

Charlie winced. ‘Kent always made sure I stayed on my meds. He left and I went off them. I wouldn’t recommend it none.’ She took a bite of her cake. ‘Would you mind a little word of advice, honey? Never let your lover become your caregiver. Nothing destroys a relationship faster than dependence, desperation, and despondence.’

‘Not the affair?’ Sue asked.

‘Hell no, we’d been dead in the water for months, and it wasn’t an affair,’ she protested. ‘Not really, it was one time, although admittedly it was a little while coming. I don’t even remember when I decided to sleep with him. Before I got drunk. He’d come around to drop something off and stayed for a drink, then another one, then another one. No “fucking yank” was going to outdrink him, let alone a woman. I don’t remember where Kent was, out somewhere.’

‘Malcolm,’ Sue said, gripping her cup. ‘You had an affair with Malcolm.’

Charlie dropped her gaze as her cheeks flushed. ‘A one night stand,’ she muttered. ‘I’m not proud. I’m sure he’s not. You’re not surprised.’

‘Not entirely. It explains a few things. I thought Malcolm’s helpfulness in London seemed strange.’ Sue took a sip of her coffee. ‘That all being so, why did you bring the DVD to Kent’s apartment rather than mailing it or handing it over to Amy?’

‘I just about screwed up all my courage to do that,’ Charlie said. ‘I can’t be doing that all the time, I’d give myself an ulcer!’

There was something rather impressive in the speed, and smoothness, of her reply. It was very nearly convincing.

‘Liar, liar pants on fire,’ Sue said.

Charlie covered her mouth as she giggled. ‘I forgot you just came right with things.’

‘I think that you knew he wasn’t there and that I was.’

‘Nuts! I always was a terrible liar,’ Charlie said with a sigh.

Sue took a bite of her scone. ‘Do you find that fallback often works?’

Charlie took a sip of her chocolate. ‘Yes.’ She put the cup down. ‘But not with you, darn it. Well, I guess it’s good for me. Too easy helps nobody.’

‘Why did you pass on the DVD at all?’

Charlie pushed the hair out of her eyes. ‘I did feel bad that you got mixed up with the embassy nonsense. You feel like you were taken advantage of I dare say? Guess what, so do I. It wasn’t my operation but they absolutely expected him to hand the files over to me and to hell with how either of us felt about it. So maybe I feeling a little like biting the hand that feeds me. Besides, you’re kinda fun.’

‘Amy thought perhaps you were still in love with him,’ Sue said baldly.

‘Gosh, isn’t she the romantic?’

‘I would have never before thought so.’

‘Well, I’m not. I didn’t stop blaming him for a long time. I didn’t stop being angry for a long time. When I did I just felt… empty, and sad. Everything had been burned up. Sophie calls that whole period my “psychotic phase” and she’s not wrong.’

‘Your therapist?’ Sue inquired.

‘Hell no, not even unofficially.’ Charlie held up her hand, shoving off her engagement ring. ‘I’m never going there again.’

Sue swallowed a mouthful of coffee. ‘Congratulations. Sophie?’

‘Hmm mmm.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘You didn’t seem the type to disapprove.’

‘You turned Kent down, twice,’ Sue said flatly. It shouldn’t bother her. It was utterly illogical that it did.

‘Oh you’re protective, that’s so cute!’ Charlie winced at Sue’s expression. ‘Would you prefer “adorable”, maybe?’

‘No.’

Charlie shrugged. ‘I was young and he’s a man. It’s different.’ She looked at Sue over the edge of her cup. ‘You might have to ask him.’

Sue nodded. ‘That had occurred to me, but I suggested moving in together after the campaign. It’s his turn.’

‘You take it in turns?’

‘We do now.’ Sue took a bite of her scone. ‘Besides which, for idiotic work-related reasons, we have to pretend that we’ve split up.’

‘I’m intrigued, but also acutely aware that you seem deeply peeved so I won’t pry.’ Charlie pushed aside her empty plate. ‘I guess you got all the sex tape business sorted out. The amateur pornographer has been going eight kinds of crazy trying to restore his laptop and his DVDs. What on earth did you do to them?’

Sue patted her lips on her napkin. ‘Jackson used some kind of emitter he borrowed from his girlfriend. It was his idea to wipe everything.’

‘Oh, I never met Jackson,’ Charlie complained. She politely waved over a waitress and ordered a coffee for both of them. ‘The first and last time I heard of him was when he tracked Kent down. Quite the little scandal there from Caitlyn’s point of view. Wrong side of the blanket not being the least of it.’

‘I understood that there were other brothers as well?’

‘Mmm hmm, but little contact. Jackson’s the youngest by quite a margin and nobody knew he existed until he relocated.’ Charlie leaned forward and lowered her voice. ‘I did a little reconnaissance on him when he got in touch with Kent. No criminal record but not for lack of trying from cops and feds alike. So what’s he like?’

Sue thought about it. ‘Handsome. Flirtatious. Loves aircraft. According to Kent he’s very bright and almost as lazy.’

Charlie laughed lightly. ‘He sounds fun. How did you enjoy all the sneaking around? I kinda miss the excitement and danger of operations. I haven’t broken into somewhere illegally in _years_.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘It was exciting. That is not necessarily a positive thing. My working life has an abundance of drama and tension without artificially creating it.’

‘You’re a spoilsport, and if you think stealing sex tapes are shocking, then honey you do not know the half of it.’ Charlie sipped her coffee. ‘My gosh, the amount of granny porn I found on the laptop of a certain Canadian prime minister!’

‘Granny porn.’

‘Did you even know that was a genre?’ Charlie shook her head. ‘It is. It is a _huge_ genre. My word. The things some people can find exciting. Speaking of, did you meet Lucas at the wake?’

‘Briefly,’ Sue said. ‘He seems far more popular with women then with men.’

 

It was fun, sneaking Kent up to her hotel room. It felt a little like being a teenager again, climbing out of her window to meet Reuben. Climbing back in as the dawn was breaking. If it hadn’t been for the excitement of sneaking around and the pleasure of defying her mother they would probably have broken up a good deal sooner.

Kent had to be back in Washington, should have flown back already, but Sue had asked him to delay his flight. She hadn’t given him a reason. She hadn’t needed to.

‘Your room is ridiculously small,’ he complained.

‘It’s only for one night,’ Sue said pulling him down onto the bed. ‘The sooner that you can return properly, the happier I’ll be.’

‘It’s complicated.’ He reached around to unpin her hair. ‘I don’t currently have the physical or emotional energy to discuss this.’

‘Too much talking.’ Sue shook out her hair and kissed him.

Kent’s fingers found the zipper at the back of her dress and pulled it down. His fingers were warm against her skin as he trailed them up to her bra.

‘I hate sleeping alone,’ he muttered into her mouth.

‘I think I’ve spoiled you.’ Sue slid his tie free and started unbuttoning his shirt. ‘All the perks of living together with none of the downsides.’

‘I welcome any downsides if I am guaranteed the perks.’

‘Promises, Mr. Davison.’

‘You may have any you need, Miss Wilson.’

Sue was about to reply when there was a sharp rat-a-tat at the door. ‘Did you call room service?’

‘I did not.’

Sue stood up and turned around so he could zip up her dress. ‘If it’s someone attempting a “booty call” then I’ll need your help disposing of the corpse.’

Kent stood up to continue undressing. ‘Without hesitation.’

Sue frowned as she checked the peephole. ‘It’s Ericsson,’ she said, glancing back at Kent.

He scowled. ‘I have a bad feeling about this.’

Sue took a deep breath and opened the door, blocking his view with her body. ‘Do you have the wrong hotel room?’

In person, Ericsson was much taller than she expected. He was in a suit and tie, which was some small relief, and he was alone. She wasn’t sure if that was positive or not.

‘No, I’m exactly where I need to be. You can invite me in, Miss Wilson, or we can have in the corridor a discussion that neither you, nor your partner, would want overheard.’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘My partner.’

Ericsson indicated to an adjacent room. ‘I’m sure that Mr. Egan has his ear pressed to the door at this very moment.’

Sue shrugged and opened the door. She watched Ericsson stroll into the room. Arrogance seeped out of his every pore. Was that what had attracted Selina? It was the kind of thing that she would briefly confuse for competence and then grow to despise.

Kent was nowhere to be seen. Sue suspected that he had gathered up his belongings and slipped into the bathroom. She almost laughed when Ericsson glanced under the bed.

‘Would you care to check the closet next?’

‘I’m not the enemy, Miss Wilson. You can trust me.’

They heard the toilet flush. Nothing could have convinced her that the juxtaposition was incidental. Kent’s sense of humor could be as cutting as it was understated.  

The bathroom door opened and Kent strolled out. He had buttoned up his shirt but not up to the collar and his tie was hanging loose. It was another deliberate choice. One she enjoyed both aesthetic and intellectual levels.

‘Mr. Ericsson,’ Kent said, drying his hands on a towel. ‘Are you lost?’

‘You’re sabotaging the Meyer campaign,’ Ericsson said.

Sue opened her mouth to argue but couldn’t think of a thing to say.

‘That’s nonsense,’ Kent said.

Ericsson shook his head. ‘The titanium crate was signed off by you. Took a shitload of checking to find that out.’

Kent put his hands on his hips. ‘There is a world of difference between an error of judgment and willful sabotage.’

Ericsson nodded. ‘I agree completely.’

‘Then why’re you here?’

‘Davison, Selina Meyer might be so blinded by her personal antipathy to want to believe that you’d make a mistake like that, but I don’t know you well enough to hate you.’

‘Why should we care what you think?’ Sue asked.

Ericsson strolled over to the coffee machine and turned it on. ‘I’ll get to that. But don’t think this a threat or an attempt at blackmail. The contributor story is still eroding her support.’ He turned back to them. ‘I don’t know why you’re trying to bring her down and frankly I don’t care. Never look a gift horse.’ He folded his arms. ‘I suspect that there’s going to be more to come. I’m hoping for something a lot juicier than her spending money like water and having a shitty attitude.’ Ericsson shrugged. He gestured at Sue. ‘I don’t know exactly your part, Miss Wilson, but I know you’re involved. Probably setting up the contributor story.’

Sue shook her head. ‘If I’d known that slander was your intention I wouldn’t have opened the door.

‘It’s only slander if it’s not true.’ Ericsson poured three cups of coffee.

‘It is an egregious lie,’ Sue said.

Ericsson shrugged. ‘You snore.’

‘What?’ Kent asked blankly.

‘You hear our gossip. We hear yours. I didn’t give a shit that you were fucking and I didn’t care when you stopped.’ He sipped his coffee black. ‘Not until I realized you were play-acting, then I got real interested.’ He tapped the wall with his knuckles. ‘Hotel rooms always have walls like paper and Miss Wilson, you snore loud enough to wake the dead. You’re pretending to have split up to convince your colleagues that you’re not conspiring.’

Kent shook his head. ‘Get to the point.’

‘I want to make you both an offer.’

***

Sue shut the door behind Ericsson and locked it. She checked the peephole and saw him sauntering away. On the other side of the room she heard Kent stirring his coffee.

‘This is a problem,’ she said.

‘He doesn’t have anything but supposition and gossip.’

Sue turned around. Kent was casually leaning back against the wall sipping his coffee.

‘He knows that we’re still sleeping together,’ she said.

‘So? There are couples who make up and break up repeatedly. There are people who have angry sex with their ex.’ Kent discarded his tie. ‘He has nothing. If he had anything of any value he’d be attempting blackmail not recruitment.’  

Sue crossed the room and sat down on the bed. ‘Have you ever done that?’

‘Blackmail?’

‘Hmm.’

Kent shook his head. He sat on the bed behind her and unzipped her dress. ‘Ben’s better at that sort of thing. I wouldn’t be very convincing.’ He slipped her dress off her shoulders and gently kissed the nape of her neck.

‘You have other skills,’ Sue agreed, tilting her head.

***

Amy was horrified. Sue began to wish that she hadn’t told her. They were still on the campaign trail, still being dragged from city to city, and from terrible hotel to terrible hotel. Knowing that Hughes’s resignation was imminent had already been weighing heavily on Sue, and keeping Ericsson’s visit also a secret would have been almost unbearable.

Not guilt. Sue felt no guilt. The problem instead was that secrets, all secrets, are only pleasurable in the telling. Her mother simply would not understand the intricacies and Kent already knew. Telling Amy was the only feasible option.

Not that Amy was bothered by Ericsson putting pressure on them, oh no. She was merely concerned that somehow he would trace it all back to the sex tape.

‘I don’t know how you could let this happen!’ Amy hissed.

They were hiding in one of the rooms at the campaign headquarters. It was little surprise that sneaking around with Amy in no way compared to sneaking around with Kent.

‘This is not our fault. Stop blaming us,’ Sue said firmly.

‘Whose fault is it that you couldn’t keep stop fucking each other for a few weeks?’

Sue folded her arms. ‘If you want to blame someone then blame Selina. Your loyalty is blinding you to the fact that this is all because of her poor judgment.’

Amy shook her head. ‘This is your job, Sue, and if you can’t do it, then maybe you should take Ericsson up on his offer.’

‘You’re being idiotic. It is certainly not my job to become celibate, nor is it Kent’s.’

Amy pulled open the door. ‘Get your mind out of your panties, Sue. You need to think about your damn priorities.’

***

Sue was at her desk when Kent texted that he was on his way back. The decisions had been made. Everything was in motion. He was arriving to tell Selina that she was about to become the president.

Sue stared at her cell. This was it. However long it did or didn’t last the fact remained that she was working for the woman who was going to be the most powerful person on earth.

Well, that was the polite fiction. The amount of power she would actually wield would depend on how much congress and the senate allowed her. Although, she would still have the nuclear codes. That was terrifying enough. Sue looked around the room at the rest of the staff: the people who would be providing the information and the advice that would help Selina make decisions that would affect millions of Americans.

That was far more terrifying.

Sue was quietly confident that Selina had absolutely no idea what she was actually letting herself in for. The woman had, quite recently, voluntarily made sex tapes with a man she barely knew and should not have trusted, knowing as she did that she was hoping to become president. The more Sue thought about it, the more the ideal palled.

***

Sue went to the copy room to wait for Kent to finish his meeting with Selina and come back to the campaign headquarters. She prided herself on her self-control but she was having trouble maintaining her equilibrium. Just the idea that she would soon be able to go back to D.C. was giving her itchy feet.

She jumped when Amy rushed into the room, and tensed when she slammed the door shut.

‘Did you know about this?’ Amy asked.

‘Anything I do or do not know is subject to security clearance, and you are not cleared to know,’ Sue said crisply.

‘I’m not cleared to know? I have a higher clearance than you do!’

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘I have not and would not claim otherwise.’

Amy crossed her arms. ‘You fucking knew.’

Sue folded her arms. ‘Selina must be pleased.’

‘She’s having a fucking breakdown! Why didn’t you warn me?’

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ Sue said crisply. ‘Mr. Davison would never tell me classified information such as his being called away due to the president intending to resign. He certainly would not text me on his way back here to tell me that he was returning and the resignation was imminent.’

‘Priorities, Sue,’ Amy said sharply, yacking open the door.

 

 

It was only another five or six minutes before Kent appeared in the doorway of the copy room. He was wearing his overcoat and his shoulders were tensed. Sue waited patiently as he came and stood beside her, apparently waiting to use the machine.

‘I can’t stay,’ he murmured, ‘I’m returning to D.C. to manage the handover.’

‘I was hoping we might have tonight together.’

‘You’ll be returning quickly. It’ll be chaos without you.’ Kent swayed slightly towards her and pressed his hip against hers.

‘Flattery will get you everywhere, Mr. Davison,’ Sue muttered returning the gentle pressure.

She glanced at him. It was evident he had as little excitement for the prospect of Selina’s presidency as Sue did herself, but there was something else on his mind.

 ‘How’s Joanna Hughes?’

He shook his head. ‘She’s taking it very hard,’ he said. ‘But it’s the right choice. He’s doing the right thing for her, for him, and for the country.’

Sue touched his hand. Kent squeezed her fingers. He cleared his throat.

‘I’ve been giving some thought to our situation,’ he muttered. ‘I wonder if we might not wait.’

Sue took a moment to think, but no answer was immediately forthcoming. ‘Not wait?’

His shoulders tensed further, which she hadn’t thought was possible. It looked distinctly uncomfortable. ‘We talked about after the campaign,’ he said, uncharacteristically tentative.

‘Moving in together,’ Sue said quickly, wanting to impress upon him that she had not forgotten. ‘The context briefly confused me.’

He relaxed, but only a fraction. ‘I wonder if we might not wait,’ he said again.

Sue caught her automatic response, and forced herself to consider it properly. ‘All right.’

‘All right?’

Sue gently bumped her elbow against his. ‘Let’s not wait. There’s no pressing need to procrastinate.’

Kent let out a deep breath. ‘Good. Good. I’ll start making room tonight.’

‘Please do,’ Sue said severely.

 

 

Sue was at her desk, surreptitiously watching Kent bickering with Ben who kept accosting him as he tried to leave. From the snippets of conversation that she heard she suspected that Ben was annoyed at being excluded from POTUS’s plans and resignation schedule. Childish, to Sue’s mind. Not that Kent was a great deal better, frankly. They were like a pair of children, two bickering brothers constantly fighting for superiority.

She startled, very slightly, when Selina marched out of her makeshift office and snapped her fingers at Sue.

‘Sue, office, now,’ Selina said. Then she turned and pitched a balled up piece of paper at Kent. ‘You, my office, now.’

‘Ma’am, I have a flight-’ he began.

‘Oh, this won’t take long,’ Selina said darkly. 

Sue and Kent shared a look, before they both followed her into the office.

 

Selina sat back in her chair. ‘Okay, I wanna hear it.’

They exchanged a look.

‘Ma’am?’ Kent asked.

She snorted. ‘You know, for someone so smart you can be amazingly fucking dumb.’

Sue clenched her hands as she tried to control her temper.

‘Could you be more specific?’ Kent asked. He at least sounded calm.

Sue supposed he was used to her abuse. That didn’t make her feel any better.

‘More specific, okay. You gotcha.’ Selina smiled crookedly. ‘When I was splitting up with Andrew and _you_ insisted we pretended to be together, what did you keep telling us to do?’

He looked blank. ‘Stop sleeping with the gym staff?’

‘No!’ Selina slapped the desk. ‘Ow! Fuck, that hurt. No! Well, you said that too, but that’s not what I meant.’ She shook her hand. ‘I _meant_ that you were always telling us to stand closer together. To touch. Body language, Kent, remember all your lectures? So, switch-chango, if you are pretending to be broken up with someone _you shouldn’t be stood so close that you’re practically in each other’s clothes._ ’ She waved a hand. ‘Even right now, standing there, I could barely slide a piece of paper between you.’

Selina was right. Sue felt ill. She knew immediately that Selina was right. They remembered to bicker and snap but not to stand apart or to avoid casual touching. She remembered with excruciating clarity him resting his hand on her lower back while they stood at the copy machine. 

Selina tapped her pen on her desk. ‘Neither of you is married or even dating someone else in the office. So let’s talk about what the fuck you’re playing at. You start, Sue, since yelling at Kent is like screaming at a brick wall. What are you playing at?’

‘Ma’am, my private life is my own business,’ Sue said.

‘Oh you think so? Not when you parade it around the office.’ Selina stood up. ‘Not when it’s some sort of cover for whatever the fuck you’ve got going on with Ericsson. Didn’t think I knew about him visiting you did ya? Well I fucking did because I know fucking everything. Who do you think you fucking are, Sue? You think because you’re fucking Kent that you can fuck with me? You’re just a jumped up little-’

‘Don’t use that tone with her,’ Kent said. His own tone was definitely not a growl but it was unmistakably firm and final.

Selina turned her glare on him. ‘What did you say to me?’

He didn’t flinch. He didn’t look away. He didn’t even fold his arms. ‘I said, don’t use that tone with her.’

‘You are so - ‘

‘I would tell you why we’re going through this ridiculous charade,’ he said in the same tone, completely riding over her words, ‘but you don’t want to hear it. You never want to hear how we, your staff, are constantly called upon to lie, manipulate, and far worse in order to extricate you from yet another mess into which you have gotten yourself. You don’t wish to know because you want “deniability” since under no circumstances are you to be held responsible for your own fuckups.’

Sue flinched, both at the obscenity, so discordant for him, and at the slight elevation of his volume. She knew she should say something but she was as frozen as Selina seemed to be.

‘You told Amy to “deal” with your sex tapes,’ he said. ‘You just handed it to her and waltzed off. Tell me, Ma’am, because I’m genuinely curious, how does a politician reach your age and seniority without realizing that sex tapes are a career ending disaster of epic proportions? Did you honestly think that Amy could simply snap her fingers and make your monumental mistake disappear?’ Kent shook his head. ‘Amy needed help. She needed our help. We made one story disappear and conjured up another one.’

‘The fucking titanium crate?’ Selina hissed. ‘You fucking set me up with that thing?’

‘Ray had already sold the story, Ma’am. Quincy needed something,’ he said inexorably. ‘It was a _perfect_ distraction, Ma’am, it created a lot of smoke and then it dissipated into nothing.’

‘There were fucking cartoons!’ Selina howled.

‘If you cannot handle a few cartoons, Ma’am, then you have no business being president,’ Kent said. His volume was rising again. ‘If we had not done what we did then it wouldn’t have been a few cartoons, Ma’am, it would have been the entire country sniggering over your sex tapes. Not just for a few weeks Ma’am, and not even for a few months. That would be your legacy. You wouldn’t have simply lost the nomination, you would be finished. Your entire political career would be nothing more than an amusing footnote. You would be remembered as Bill Clinton without the accomplishment, charm, or restraint. We did what we had to in order to save you from the consequences of your own relentless idiocy, yet again. We didn’t do it for your gratitude, Ma’am, because there’s little enough of that even when you do have some faint awareness that other people work damn hard to support you. We do it because it’s our job and because we believe in this administration even when there are consequences. You wanted to know why Ericsson visited. He worked out what you only realized today, and only then because Dan was listening at doorways. The difference is that Ericsson also realized that we’d created the stories we gave to Quincy.’ Kent put his hands on his hips. ‘He thinks that we’re sabotaging you and now we’re trying to turn that problem into an opportunity, a way to put you ahead of Thornhill. So don’t stand there and use that tone to Sue when you have no idea how hard she works or what she’s done for you. You do not get to speak to her in that way when you do not give a _shit_ about what we have to do to clean up your continual messes.’

The silence was sudden and absolute. Kent wasn’t even breathing heavily. Sue watched the color leach from Selina’s face as the other woman looked away and fiddled with something on the desk. Then the door slammed open as Amy hurtled through with Ben trundling along behind her. He shut the door and lent back against it.

‘Everyone could hear you!’

‘What?’ Selina asked weakly.

Amy flapped a hand at Kent. ‘The entire office just heard your reaming _the president_ a new asshole.’

Selina slumped down into her chair. ‘They could hear yelling or they could hear words?’ she asked, painfully cautious.

‘First it was just a raised voice,’ Ben said, scratching his forehead. ‘Then a raised male voice. Got real clear right around uh “consequences of your own relentless idiocy”. Nice turn of phrase by the way. Remind me to use it sometime on someone who is not _the fucking president of the United States._ ’

‘I am in no mood for you,’ Kent said tiredly.

‘You should’ve heard the line about me being Clinton without the… what was it? Without the charm, restraint, and accomplishment? Something like that,’ Selina said.

Kent turned and walked towards the door. Sue started to follow him.

‘Hey! Where the fuck are you going?’ Selina asked. ‘I did not tell you to leave.’

‘To clean out my desk,’ he said evenly.

‘If Kent’s going then I’m going,’ Sue said. ‘Ma’am, I’m not a politician. There is a line. It has been drawn.’

‘Oh, get down off your fucking cross, Spartacus,’ Selina groaned. She looked at Ben and Amy. ‘Can you believe that I’m having to tell these two not to be so fucking melodramatic? Jesus, of all the people to go all martyr-y on me.’

Ben shrugged. ‘No need for Sue to quit.’

‘Uh, pretty much the entire office just heard Mr. Davison yelling at you,’ Amy said. She took a step back when she saw Sue’s expression. 

‘Good luck next time you need help avoiding a “media fuckstorm”, Benedict Brookheimer.’ Sue said sharply.

‘This is work,’ Amy protested. ‘It’s not personal.’

‘Enough!’ Selina pinched the bridge of her nose. ‘Kent?’

‘Ma’am?’ he asked.

Selina looked at him with a weary expression. ‘You still have copies of the tapes.’

A muscle jumped in his cheek. ‘Ma’am?’

‘Yeah, that’s what I figured.’ Selina waved a hand. ‘I guess that’s what I get for forgetting you have a fucking terrible temper along with a great line in revenge.’ She looked over at Sue. ‘He ever yell at you that way?’

‘Yes.’

‘Deserve it?’ Selina asked.

Sue held up her hand when Kent started to protest. ‘More or less.’

‘Ain’t that the fucking worst?’ Selina said. ‘I hate that.’

‘You gave at least as good as you got,’ Kent muttered to Sue.

Selina looked at her watch. ‘Okay, that’s long enough. Go tell everyone that I made Kent cry like a baby.’

‘Ma’am, nobody is going to believe that,’ Ben protested.

Selina narrowed her eyes. ‘I can be very intimidating.’

Ben coughed and looked away.

‘Did you watch the fucking tape?’ Selina asked suddenly.

‘Well… yeah, we had to make sure it was real and that there wasn’t anything… you know… illegal.’

Selina sat up straighter. ‘We? How many people have watched this thing?’

Ben held up his hands. ‘Just me and Kent, and Charlie I guess, and whichever NSA guy actually found it in the first place.’ He looked at Sue and Kent. ‘Unless you showed it around?’

‘Why would you even ask that?’ Kent demanded. ‘What is wrong with you?’

Selina covered her face with her hands for a moment. She dropped her hands and sighed. ‘Kent, for the next couple of days you damn well better be seen to be crawling up my ass.’

‘Yes, Ma’am.’

Selina waved a hand. ‘All right then. What’re you all waiting for? This never happened. Shoo.’

 

 

‘Two minutes,’ Sue murmured to Kent as they left Selina’s office, ‘then follow me.’

Amy tried to stop her, to pull her into some self-serving parade of excuses masquerading as an apology, but Sue shook her off.

‘Don’t be such a fucking pussy, Sue,’ Amy said. ‘If you’re going to play with the big boys then sometimes you’re going to get slammed and slammed hard.’

Sue shook her head. ‘Amy, once in a while get out of the bunker and meet some real human beings. Consider your _own_ priorities.’

Sue ignored the whispers and the stares as she strolled out of the room and along a corridor towards the unused rooms. She didn’t grace Dan with her attention although she knew that he had tensed as she approached. Eavesdropping was a new low for him, but if he expected her to create a scene then his judgment was equally poor. Selina recognized revenge was a very viable option. Dan was too shortsighted to even consider having to wait to be crushed.

Sue opened the door to a storage room where the contents were covered in both dust sheets and indeed dust. She took a roll of wipes down from the shelf and meticulously cleaned off one of the desks. Then she perched on the desk and listened to the sound of Kent’s shoes tapping along the floor. She wondered what it said about her that she could recognize not only his gait from the sound, but also Jonah’s, Ben’s, and Dan’s. Jonah’s steps were far longer and he lifted his feet carefully, like a marionette being guided along a stage. Ben’s steps were heavier and besides his labored breath was always in accompaniment. Kent’s keys jangled on every third step. Dan had a tiny stride and his heels hit the ground before his soles. Sue was nothing if not a student of fine details. Both Amy and Dan would have done well to have followed her example.

The door opened and Kent paused in the doorway. He walked inside, closing the door behind him.

‘I can’t stay long,’ he said.

Sue crooked her finger. ‘Come here.’

‘I was expecting to have more time to compose an apology,’ Kent said meekly. ‘I shouldn’t have lost my temper.’

Sue wrapped his tie around her fist and slid her other hand around his neck. ‘No apologies, not for that.’

His hands found her waist as they kissed. His thumbs stroked her stomach and he made a soft “mmm” sound in the back of his throat. Sue sighed. All it would take was for Dan to walk in and the whole scheme would come crashing down.

She rested her forehead against Kent’s. ‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘For losing my temper?’

‘For leaping to my defense.’ She allowed herself a small smile. ‘When I said I wanted to see your daddy bear mode, I wasn’t expecting anything quite so dramatic.’

He groaned. ‘Apologies.’

‘Stop apologizing, there’s no need.’ Sue straightened his tie. ‘Did you actually keep a copy?’

Kent glanced at the door. ‘No comment.’

‘Do you have to go?’

‘Things to do,’ he said, stroking the back of her hand. ‘Not least of which being getting ready for you to move in.’

 

 

Although she would rather not admit it, the truth was that Selina was quite competent at both hiding any resentment and appearing surprised by Kent’s “yes man” act. It had only been one day and it was irritating the hell out of Sue. It helped lend a certain extra authenticity when they staged their spat over who was going to get the office.

‘Why do we care if Gary believes us?’ Kent said wearily, after Gary had stomped away.

‘Because Gary talks and we do not want him to add any suspicions to those Dan already has,’ Sue said quietly.

‘I should’ve made Dan resign,’ Kent grumbled. 

Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘And sent him out into Washington with a grievance, some information, and a lot more suspicions? You made the right choice. Now he thinks that you’re on the same side.’

‘Wonderful. Dan thinks we’re on the same side and we have Jonah to deal with once again.’

In the room outside Selina was yelling. Sue and Kent exchanged a weary look.

‘I’ll see you at your apartment, Miss Wilson?’ he said.

‘You will, Mr. Davison.’

Sue walked out into the bullpen. The place was complete chaos. Selina was already looking panicked and out of her depth, Ben seemed near suicidal, and Mike was flailing. A series of disasters waiting to happen. Sue had no doubt that the next few months would be a slow motion train wreck as Selina lost support and compounded errors and blunders. Trying to stave off each disaster would require complete dedication and selfless devotion to the cause.

Sue checked her watch, turned off her computer, and headed out. Kent was still at work but that was alright, this was something she needed to do herself. Or at least something she needed to start by herself. In truth she was very slightly anxious although she thought that was probably quite normal.

 

 

She was feeling rather agitated when she let herself into her apartment. They had moved her aquarium the previous night, along with most of her clothes and all of the food. What remained was everything else; books, music, movies, photos, art of all varieties, and a thousand and one random things be they unique or commonplace. She had lived with someone before, of course, but had always invited them into her space. The shared space had always remained in her name alone, a fact on which more than one had commented. Moving into someone else’s space, someone else’s territory, for more than a visit was a daunting prospect. Boxing up her life was an even more daunting prospect. It was going to take hours, if not longer. Well, it wasn’t going to get done any more efficaciously by being delayed.

She was pleased when he arrived an hour later, and even more pleased when it transpired that he was holding two cups of coffee and a bag of Chinese takeout.

‘My hero.’

‘You’re easily pleased.’

 

 

Sue sat in the chaos of her soon to be former apartment, amid the crates, the sacks, and the detritus of her life and wondered about wondering about her life. Should she have some concerns or lingering doubts?

She didn’t.

A year ago, she would have called the situation ludicrous. Dating a co-worker was ridiculously risky. Almost walking out of her job in support of him was utterly nonsensical. Who would that help? She should have been appalled at her overemotional response.

She wasn’t.

Kent looked at her as he neatly lifted up noodles with chopsticks. ‘Second thoughts?’

‘Never,’ Sue said severely. ‘I make a decision. Under exceptional circumstances I may change my mind. But I never debate or second guess myself.’

‘Not changed your mind?’ he checked.

‘No. Have you?’ she asked.

‘Absolutely not,’ he said instantly.

Sue allowed herself a small smile. ‘I’m glad we remain in agreement, Mr. Davison.’

‘Always, Miss Wilson,’ Kent said.

 

The End

 

 

 

 


End file.
